- Indian Rupee (INR) rises despite muted performance in domestic equities
- Covid cases rise, two Indian states asked to consider curfews
- US Dollar (USD) slips hawkish Fed comments boosted USD on Thursday
- US looks to Fed Chair Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole Economic Forum
The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is edging lower on Friday after booking small losses in the previous session. The pair settled +0.05% higher on Thursday at 74.15. At 11:30 UTC, USD/INR trades -0.57% lower at 73.72.
The Indian Rupee is strengthening despite a muted performance in the domestic equities market. The Nifty 50 and the Sensex closed just marginally higher as investors await clues from the US central bank.
Separately covid cases are once again on the rise in India with two states being asked to consider night curfews in order to bring a rapid rise in cases under control. The states of Kerala and Maharashtra have seen new daily cases above 40,000 for two days in a row on Friday.
Looking ahead investors will be watching the foreign currency reserves data from the Reserve Bank of India due shortly.
The US Dollar is trading lower across the board on Friday. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies trades -0.04% at the time of writing at 93.03 after booking strong gains in the previous session.
The US Dollar jumped 0.25% higher on Thursday after Federal Reserve officials adopted a more hawkish stance in speeches. St Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said that the Fed should start tapering bond purchases soon. Two other Fed officials expressed similar beliefs.
All eyes are now on Fed Chair Powell who is due to speak later today. Investors are watching closely to see whether he offers any guidance over how and when the Fed will start reining in support. More recently investors had been betting that the Fed could delay tapering due to rising covid cases.
Prior to the speech US PCE inflation data is due. This is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation and is expected to rise to 3.6% YoY up from 3.5%.
