- Indian Rupee (INR) shows resilience despite risk-off trade
- Indian retail inflation is expected to fall to 6.35%
- US Dollar (USD) awaits US NFP report
- 205k jobs to be added in Feb
The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is holding steady after booking gains in the previous session. The pair settled +0.09% higher on Thursday at 82.02. At 10:00 UTC, USD/INR trades 0.01% at 82.02 and trades in a range of 81.99 to 82.20. The pair is set to rise 0.4% across the week.
The repeat is showing resilience despite a strong risk-off mood in the market, which has sent global equities sharply lower.
Looking ahead to India’s retail inflation data, which is due early next week, expectations are that inflation fell to 6.35% in February, down from 6.52% in January. This would mean that rates said above the Reserve Bank of India’s upper threshold for a second straight month, putting the central bank on track for further rate hikes.
The US Dollar is steady against the Rupee but falling against its major peers. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies, trades -0.06% at the time of writing at 105.25 after booking 0.33% losses yesterday.
Fee U.S. dollar edged lower yesterday after US jobless claims rose by more than expected. Jobless claims rose to 211,000 up from 192,000 in the previous week and ahead of forecasts of 195,000. The data raises the prospect that the US labour market wasn’t as tight as initially feared, particularly after Federal Reserve chair Powell warned that strong data in recent months means that the Fed could need to raise interest rates higher for longer.
All eyes are now on the US non-farm payroll, which is expected to show that 205 thousand jobs were added in February this was down from the blowout January report, which saw 517,000 jobs added. Unemployment is expected to remain at 3.4,% and average hourly wages are expected to rise 4.7%.
A strong jobs report could fuel bets that the Fed will hike rates by 50 basis points in the March FOMC.
