- Indian Rupee (INR) rises after 3 straight days of decline
- Domestic equities slump & oil slides
- US Dollar (USD) edges lower on doubts over Biden’s spending bill
- No US data is due today.
The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is moving lower for a third straight day. Even so the pair gained 0.4% across last week settling on Friday at 75.98. At 11:30 UTC, USD/INR trades -0.14% at 75.87.
The Indian Rupee is showing resilience despite domestic equities tumbling lower. Indian shares slumped on Monday to an almost 4 month low amid rising concerns over Omicron and renewed lock down fears.
The Nifty 50 closed 2.2% lower at 16,614 and the Sensex closed 2.1% lower at 55,822. The Nifty 50 is down more than 50% from its record high and is now in correction territory.
Meanwhile tumbling oil prices offered support to the Rupee. West Texas Intermediate trades 3.5% lower amid fears of more lockdowns hurting the global demand outlook. Netherlands imposed lockdown restrictions on Sunday as cases across Europe continue to surge.
The US Dollar is trading lower across the board. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies trades -0.07% at the time of writing at 96.57 paring gains from the previous week.
The US Dollar finished the previous week on the front foot after the Fed accelerated the pace at which it reins in its bond buying programme and as it signaled for three interest rate hikes in 2022 and a further three in 2023.
Today the US Dollar is trading lower amid doubts over whether President Biden’s $1.75 trillion spending plan, known as the Build Back Better plan will go through. Senator Manchin who is considered a key vote said over the weekend that he couldn’t approve the spending plan given the surging inflation.
There is no high impacting US data due to be released today. This is week is a quiet week for economic data ahead of the Christmas break.
