• Indian Rupee (INR) falls despite equities rising
  • FPI hit a record a high
  • US Dollar (USD) rises as attention turns to the Fed
  • A 25 basis point hike is expected this week

The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is rising after a flat start to the week. The pair rose 0.02% yesterday, settling on Monday at 82.52. At 10:00 UTC, USD/INR trades +0.15% at 82.65 and trades in a range of 82.45 to 82.72.

The Rupee is falling against the USD, but the Rupee is finding some support from the stronger domestic equities market.

Indian shares are rising on Tuesday, led by the financials, thanks to the relief provided by the UBS Credit Suisse takeover.

The Sensex trades 0.4% higher at the time of writing, and the Nifty 50 is also up 0.4%. The rise comes amid an uptick in the global market after recent worries over the banking sector.

Meanwhile, data shows that Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) recorded record net purchases of Indian equities in the first half of the month thanks to GQD Partner’s $1.87 billion investment in Adani Group companies at the start of the month.

The US Dollar is rising across the board. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies, trades +0.12% at the time of writing at 103.41 after falling 0.41% in the previous session.

The USD is rising today as the focus shifts from the baking crisis to the Federal Reserve interest rates decision as the central bank’s two day monetary policy meeting kicks off today.

The US dollar has seen limited safe-haven demand in recent days as the banking crisis unfolded as investors bets that the cracks forming in the banking sector would mean that the Fed would need to slow the pace of rate hikes.

The market now expects the central bank to hike interest rates by 25 basis points, rather than the 50 basis points that was expected just a few weeks ago.

Looking ahead, attention will turn to US home sales which are expected to rise 5% month on month in February after falling -0.7% in January.