- Indian Rupee (INR) falls after 2-days of gains
- RBI to hike rates once more next week
- US Dollar (USD) rises after consumer confidence rises
- US pending sales data due
The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is rising on Wednesday snapping a two day losing run. The pair fell -0.01% yesterday settling at 82.17. At 10:00 UTC, USD/INR trades +0.19% at 82.33 and trades in a range of 82.16 to 82.37.
The Rupee is falling as ratings agency Fitch warns that two Adani Group subsidiaries are exposed to greater contagion risk, which could impact their financial flexibility. The warning comes as sentiment remains fragile following the recent turmoil in the global banking sector.
Separately the Reserve Bank of India is expected to raise its main interest rate by 25 basis points on April 6 and then pause rate hikes for the rest of 2023. Inflation remains above the 6% tolerance band of 6%, rising to 6.52% in January and only cooling slightly to 6.44% in February.
The US Dollar is rising across the board. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies, trades +0.14% at the time of writing at 102.54 after two days of declines.
The US dollar is pushing higher as it tracks U S treasury yields northwards. As banking sector fears com as authorities appeared to have contained the turmoil investors are once again turning their attention to the feds fight against inflation.
Data yesterday showed that U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly improved in March to 104.2 this was up from 103.4 in February and defied expectations of a full to 101.
The data shows that the US consumer is resilient despite high inflation and rising interest rates. Instead, a strong jobs market is continuing to prop up sentiment. The data show that jobs and incomes matter more to the average American than the banking sector turmoil.
Today attention will remain on EU S economic calendar with the release of US pending home sales Which are expected to fall 3% month on month in February after rising 8.1% in January.
