• Indian Rupee (INR) moves lower in risk on trade
  • Indian government to sell assets to boost public finances
  • US Dollar (USD) falls as doubts rise over Fed’s next move
  • US PMIs show growth slowing

The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is falling lower on Monday paring gains from the previous week. The pair gained 0.15% across the last week settling at 74.34 on Friday. At 15:00 USD/INR trades -0.33% lower 74.10.

The Rupee is on the rise, tracing domestic equities higher amid risk on trade in the markets. The Nifty 50 and the Sensex both closed higher boosted by tech stocks.

News of privatization plans have also lifted the Rupee. According to government sources, India plans to sell 6 trillion Rupee worth of state-owned assets over the coming four years to boosted public finances.

Gas pipelines, roads, railways and warehouses are among the assets that the Indian government is looking to sell.

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 -0.37% at the time of writing at 93.15 after six straight days of gains.

The US Dollar is easing lower at the start of the week as the mood in the market improves and investors look ahead to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Forum on Thursday and Friday.

Following the more hawkish than expected FOMC minutes last week bets rose that the Fed would use the Jackson Hole platform to set out the timetable for easing monetary policy. However, with the event now going online owing to COVID and COVID cases rising quickly in the US doubts are rising whether the Fed will look to move with so much uncertainty surrounding the latest COVID wave.

PMI data revealed that US manufacturing and services expansion slowed in August. The composite PMI which is considered a good gauge of business activity fell to 55.4 in August down from 59.9 in July.