- Indian Rupee (INR) falls after small gains yesterday
- Domestic equities fall and oil steadies
- US Dollar (USD) rises versus major peers
- Fed Chair Powell is due to speak
The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is rising after booking small losses in the previous session. The pair fell -0.02% in the previous week, settling on Friday at 83.21. At 11:00 UTC, USD/INR trades +0.09% at 83.29 and trades in a range of 83.30 to 83.21.
Indian Rupee traded under pressure, tracking domestic equities lower. The Nifty 50 fell 0.25% to close at 19395, whilst the Sensex settled 0.22% lower at 64832.
Indian equities lost momentum after a recent rally fueled by optimism that the Federal Reserve was at peak rates. The Nifty 50 had gained roughly 2% since the FOMC meeting, when it left its interest rate on hold and appeared less hawkish than expected.
Meanwhile, oil prices steadied after several sessions of steep losses. Oil is on track to lose around 6% this week after falling 5% in the previous week as the risk of the Israel-Hamas conflict spreading eases, but demand concerns rice.
The US Dollar is rising against the Rupee but falling versus its major peers. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies, trades at -0.08% at the time of writing at 105.54, after three straight days of gains.
The U.S. dollar is edging lower as investors digest the latest U S jobless claims data and wait for Federal Reserve Jerome Powell to speak later this evening.
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the first time edged lower to 217,000, down from an output Lee revised 220,000 the previous week.
Meanwhile, continuous claims, so recurring applications for US unemployment benefits, rose for a seventh straight week, meaning that those who were out of a job were finding it harder to find employment, adding to evidence that the US labour market is cooling.
The data comes after Friday’s nonfarm payroll figures, which also showed that The US labour market called in April.
Attention now turns to US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, who is due to speak for the second time this week. He spoke yesterday but failed to touch on monetary policy or US economic outlook. He is expected to discuss these topics today and could give further clues about the future path of interest rates in the US.
