- Indian Rupee (INR) tracking domestic equities lower
- The Nifty 50 lost 2.45% in January
- US Dollar (USD) rises after gains last week
- A strong jobs report boosted the greenback
The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is rising on Monday, adding to gains from the previous week. The pair rose 0.85% last week, settling on Friday at 82.20. At 10:00 UTC, USD/INR trades +0.46% at 82.58, trading in a range of 82.31 to 82.63.
The rupee trades under pressure tracking domestic equities lower amid the ongoing Adani Group fallout.
Adani market losses have reached $113 billion in just two weeks since the release of the damaging report from Hindenburg Research. Sate-owed Life Insurance Corporation and the State Bank of India both have exposure to Adani Group companies.
Foreign Portfolio Investors sold $3.51 billion worth of Indian equities in January, the most since June, according to data from the National Security Depository. The selling coincided with the Nifty 50 falling 2.45% in January 2023.
The US Dollar is rising across the board. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies, trades +0.2% at the time of writing at 103.12 after booking gains of 1% across last week.
The US dollar is trading higher near a one-month peak, boosted by Friday’s stronger-than-expected nonfarm payrolls, which have raised questions over the Federal Reserve’s ability 2 pause interest rate hikes.
The US non-farm payroll report revealed that 517,000 new jobs were created in January. This was up from 260,000 in December and was well ahead of the 190,000 that analysts had forecasted. The unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 3.4%, its lowest level since 1969, while wage growth was 0.3%, in line with forecasts. The strong jobs report, in addition to a strong ISM services PMI has prompted investors to reassess the likelihood of a less hawkish fed.
In addition to strong U.S. data last week, rising tensions with China over the weekend are boosting safe-haven flows as the market opens on Monday.
There is no high-impacting US economic data due to be released today.
