- Indian Rupee (INR) slips after gains last week
- RBI will lean on data for rate decisions
- US Dollar (USD) falls versus major peers
- US earnings in focus
The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is edging a few points higher on Monday after losses last week. The pair traded fell -0.58% last week, settling at 82.34, trading in a range between 82.09 to 82.71. At 10:00 UTC, USD/INR trades +0.06% at 79.39.
The minutes of the latest Reserve Bank of India meeting show that policymakers are divided over the future path of monetary policy. The minutes suggest that the RBI could lean more on data to make decisions over the future path of rate hikes.
The minutes are from the September meeting where the MPC raised interest rates by 50 basis points, the fourth straight meeting of hikes to rein in persistently high inflation.
Separately, domestic equities are rising, supported by a rise in banking stocks and automobiles ahead of more corporate earnings. The Nifty 50 trades +0.5% higher at 17275 and the Sensex trades 0.56% higher at 58,244.
The US Dollar is rising against the Rupee but is falling against its major peers. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies, trades at -0.16% at the time of writing at 113.14 after booking losses of 0.46% last week.
The US dollar rose last week, boosted by hawkish minutes from the latest Fed meeting, hotter-than-expected US inflation and by retail sales that showed that the US consumer remained resilient.
The data supports a more hawkish Federal Reserve. Investors are expecting the Federal Rreserve to act more aggressively, raising interest rates by more and then keeping them higher for longer in order to tame inflation.
Today there is no high impacting US economic data. Comments from the White House economic advisor Rouse that signs are starting to appear showing that the US economy is cooling is helping to bring the USD lower.
Attention will shift to US earnings from Goldman Sachs and Bank of America for signs over how corporate America is holding up.
