inr-bank-notes - INR
  • Indian Rupee (INR) falls as risk sentiment declines
  • Domestic equities and oil prices fall
  • US Dollar (USD) rises versus major peers
  • US composite PMI to rise to 58.1

The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is rising on Friday after holding steady in the previous session. The pair settled +0.00% lower on Thursday at 76.24. At 11:00 UTC, USD/INR trades +0.18% at 76.37. The pair is set to rise 0.1% across the week; this is the second straight week of gains.

The Rupee trades under pressure, tracing domestic equities lower as the more hawkish Federal Reserve stance hurts risk sentiment.

The Nifty 50 trades down 1%, and the Sensex trades down 0.97%, paring the 1% gains from the previous session. India’s benchmark indices are set to book losses across the week, dragged lower by fears of slowing global growth, rising uncertainty, and weak earnings.

Lower oil prices were at least offering some support to the Rupee. West Texas Intermediate trades  2% lower but remains over $100 per barrel. Oil prices are falling on demand concerns amid slowing global growth forecasts.

The US Dollar is rising across the board. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies, trades +0.3% at the time of writing at 100.93, marking its second straight day of gains.

The US dollar is rising after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell yesterday signaled a 50 basis point rate hike in May and possibly another in June and even another outsized rate hike towards the end of the summer. The Fed is keen to frontload the rate hikes to bring inflation lower as quickly as possible before it starts creating cracks in the US economy.

Yesterday US jobless claims unexpectedly rose to 185,000, up from 180,000. However, this is still down at around five-decade lows.

Attention will be on the US business activity data, as measured by the PMIs. Analysts expect the composite PMI to rise to 58.1 in April, up from 57.7 in March.