- Indian Rupee (INR) rises as services PMI jumps
- Services PMI rose to 59.2
- US Dollar (USD) falls after less hawkish Fed comments
- US ISM services PMI due
The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is falling on Friday for a third straight session. The pair settled -0.10% lower on Thursday at 82.35. At 11:30 UTC, USD/INR trades -0.45% at 81.95 and trades in a range of 81.91 to 82.40.
The repair is rising after data showed that activity in India’s dominant service sector grew at the quickest pace in over a decade in February, owing to strong demand as price pressures eased.
The S&P Global India Services PMI Rise from 57.2 in January to 59.4 in February, its highest level since February 2011. The print was also considerably above forecast, as analysts had expected a fall to 56.2.
This was also the 19th straight month that the index remained above the key 50 level, which separates expansion from contraction, marking its longest stretch or expansion since June 2013.
The US Dollar is falling across the board. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies, trades -0.27% at the time of writing at 104.77, reversing gains from the previous day. The USD is set to fall across the week.
The US dollar is falling at the end of what has been a rather choppy week. The leg lower comes off the Federal Reserve Atlanta president Raphael Bostic says that he believes EU S central bank could raise interest rates further but that he sees that the Fed could be in a place to pause interest rate hikes by the summer.
Bostic’s dovish comments come off the US jobless claims unexpectedly slipped in the previous week to 190k, down from 192k, and defying expectations of a rise to 195k. The data also showed that Q4 labour costs were revised slightly higher.
Looking ahead attention is now on the ISM non-manufacturing PMI, which is expected to show that growth slowed slightly in February to 54.5, down from 55.2 in January.
