- Indian Rupee (INR) rises for a second day
- Retail inflation cooled to 5.66%
- US Dollar (USD) falls as inflation data falls
- US initial jobless claims rise
The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is falling for a second straight day. The pair fell -0.13% in the previous session, settling at 81.93. At 15:00 UTC, USD/INR trades -0.3% at 81.67 and trades in a range of 81.63 to 82.16.
The Indian Rupee is strengthening against the weekend U.S. dollar even as Indian retail inflation cools. India’s annual retail inflation for mark rose at the slowest pace in almost 15 months and fell below the central bank’s upper tolerance level for the first time so far this year.
Annual retail inflation was 5.66% in March, down from 6.44% in the previous month this was the lowest reading since December 2021, when retail inflation was 5.5 9%. The reading was also lower than forecasts of five point 8%.
Hula food inflation which accounts for nearly half of the consumer price basket, helps to bring inflation lower.
Later comes after the Reserve Bank of India surprised the markets last week by keeping its key repo rate on hold after six straight rate increases.
The US Dollar is falling across the board. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies, trades -0.6% at the time of writing at 100.88, extending losses for a third straight day.
The US dollar is falling for a third straight day after data continued to show that inflation in the US is cooling fan and amid further signs of weakness in the labour market.
US producer prices (PPI) which measures inflation at the wholesale level fell by more than expected 22 point 7% year on year down from 4.9% in February and below expectations of 3%. On a monthly basis the PPI declined -0.5% after coming in at 0% in the previous month.
Meanwhile US jobless claims rose by more than expected to 239,000, up from 228,000 and ahead of the 232,000 that analysts had pencilled in.
The initial jobless claims and the weaker PPI have helped fuel bets that the Federal Reserve will soon pause its rate hiking cycle.
