- Indian Rupee (INR) slips as oil prices rise
- Sensex, Nifty 50 close higher
- US Dollar (USD) declines versus majors as Fed tightening fears ebb
- US economic calendar quiet until Thursday
The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is pushing higher on Monday, paring some losses from the previous week. The pair lost -0.65% last week, settling at 72.81 around the weekly low and. At 10:00 UTC, USD/INR trades +0.14% lower at 73.91.
A positive session on the Indian stocks markets and strong foreign fund inflow has been overshadowed by higher oil prices on Monday.
Both the Sensex and the Nifty 50 traded 0.5% higher at the start of the week thanks to a boost by heavyweight State Bank of India. The bank extended gains following upbeat earnings on Friday.
Also helping he mood was news that daily cases of covid remained below 300,000 for and eighth straight day on Monday.
However, oil prices are rebounding after selling off last week. Expectations of a revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal have been dampened giving oil a boost. A breakthrough in talks could see the US remove sanctions on Iran’s oil industry. However, the ltest reports suggest that there is still some distance to go before an agreement will be reached.
The US Dollar is trading lower across the board on Monday. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies trades -0.03% at the time of writing at 90.00 as it continues to hover around multi-month lows.
The US Dollar is easing lower versus its major peers as concerns fade over runaway inflation and the Federal Reserve tightening policy sooner. Last week inflation fears briefly sent the US Dollar higher, after the minutes to the latest Fed meeting revealed that some policy makers were ready to start talking about tapering asset purchases.
However, the market reaction was short lived and the US Dollar quickly resumed its selloff. The greenback shed -0.3% across last week.
The first part of this week is quiet as far as US data is concerned. Things start to pick up on Thursday with US durable gods orders and jobless claims, ahead of PCE, the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation on Friday.
