• Indian Rupee (INR) falls for 4th day in risk off trade
  • Equities fall, oil hits 7 year high
  • US Dollar (USD) rises on a hawkish Fed
  • US Q4 GDP, jobless claims, durable goods orders due

The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is moving higher on Thursday for a fourth straight session. The pair settled +0.14 higher yesterday at 74.87. At 15:30 UTC, USD/INR trades +0.45% at 75.21.

The Indian Rupee trades lower in risk off trade. Risk sentiment is once again deteriorating on the back of an aggressive US Federal Reserve and as geopolitical tensions continue to rise in eastern Europe.

Domestic equities are falling lower weighed down by the IT sector which is sliding for an eighth straight session. Meanwhile oil prices are rising, reaching fresh 7-year highs on the back of geopolitical troubles in Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate trades at $87.70

The US Dollar is rising across the board. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies trades +1.12% at the time of writing at 97.02 marking its fourth straight day of gains.

The US Dollar is surging after the Federal Reserve meeting overnight. The US central bank kept interest rates on hold this month but prepared the market for a rate hike in March. The bond buying programme is also due to end in March. The Fed have indicated that there will be 4 rate hikes across the year. The market is pricing in more than this with Fed funds pricing in as many as 5 rate hikes across the year.

The hawkish Fed has sent the US Dollar surging, although stocks have fallen sharply amid concerns over whether the US economy can handle such an aggressive Fed.

Looking ahead today there is still plenty to keep investors focused on the greenback with the release of US GDP for the fourth quarter, which is expected to reveal growth of 5.5%, initial jobless claims, which are expected to show that the number of Americans claiming unemployment benefit fell to 260,000, from 281,000 and durable goods orders.