- Indian Rupee (INR) falls after gains last week
- Domestic equities rise to a monthly high and oil falls
- US Dollar (USD) rises ahead of Wednesday’s rate decision
- Dallas Fed business index data due
The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is rising on Monday after booking a loss across last week. The pair fell-0.31% in the previous week, settling at 82.26 on Friday, trading in a range between 81.96 to 82.84. At 10:00 UTC, USD/INR trades +0.31% at 82.51.
The Rupee strengthened versus the USD last week as the market mood improved as major central banks adopted a less hawkish approach to monetary policy.
Today the Rupee is edging lower versus the stronger USD, despite rising domestic equities and falling oil prices.
India’s domestic equities gauge the Sensex rose to a six-week high, trading up 1.1% at 60,623. Meanwhile, the Nifty 50 rose 1.2% at 18,000.
Separately oil prices fell 1% after weaker-than-expected Chinese manufacturing data raised concerns over the economic recovery in the world’s largest oil importer.
The US Dollar is rising across the board. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies, trades at +0.38% at the time of writing at 111.17 after booking losses of 1.12% across last week.
The USD is rising ahead of the key Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting on Wednesday and the closely watched non-farm payroll on Friday.
The Federal Reserve is expected to deliver another 75 basis point rate hike after core PCE, the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation, rose to 5.1% in September, up from 4.9% and as GDP data showed that the US economy grew fast than expected in Q3 at 2.8% annualized.
However, there are growing expectations that the US central bank could start to soften its hawkish tone after the November meeting. There are rising expectations that the Fed could hike by 50 basis points in December.
There is no high-impacting US economic data due for release today. Mid-tier data in the form of Chicago PMI and the Dallas Fed manufacturing business index.
