- Rupee give back early gains to close down against the USD
- Dovish Fed left the USD indecisive
- Firm treasury yields support the US dollar
- US weekly jobless claims eyed next
Indian Rupee weakens again despite the slight dovish tone that the Fed took. At the foreign exchange market, the value of the Rupee depreciated by 17 paise on Wednesday settling down -0.21% at 79.34 against the US dollar. The USD/INR exchange rate was seen trading on Thursday within a trading range of 79.34 and 79.63.
Currently, one US dollar buys 79.60 rupees, up 0.36% as of 7:00 AM UTC.
Fed policy members saw no signs of easing inflation the FOMC minutes revealed on Wednesday. At the same time, the Fed also sees it appropriate to slow the pace of rate hikes, but it would be data-dependent.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of major currencies settled up +0.18% at 106.66.
Meanwhile, retail sales in the US were broadly weaker in July down from 0.8% in June to 0.0% suggesting a deterioration in consumer spending.
Elsewhere, according to the National Stock Exchange of India, domestic institutional investors were net sellers in the local equity market worth Rs 510.23 crore while foreign portfolio investors continued to support the local equity market and bought shares worth Rs 2,347.22 crore.
The domestic benchmark equity index NIFTY 50 settled up 0.67% at 17,944.25 on Wednesday.
The Indian 10-year government bond yield was seen up 0.99% at 7.253%.
Looking forward, the number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims is expected to increase to 262k – the highest reading since January 20.
