- Indian Rupee (INR) falls despite domestic equities rising
- Indian bellwethers reporting
- US Dollar (USD) falls versus major peers
- US CPI was hotter than expected
The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is rising after losses yesterday. The pair fell 0.1% in the previous session, settling on Wednesday at 83.02 At 19:00 UTC, USD/INR trades +0.04% at 83.06 and trades in a range of 82.93 to 83.11.
The Indian rupee was under pressure even as Indian shares eked out gains on Thursday in subdued trade before quarterly results from bellwethers later in the day.
The nifty 50 rose 0.13% while the Sensex gained 0.09%. Stocks reporting after the close on Thursday included Tata Consultancy Services Infosys.
Well heavyweight Reliance Industries which underperformed the nifty 50 across 2023 search 2.63% to hit a new record high for a second straight session. The rally in the stock came after government talks reiterated its buy rating on the firm earlier in the week.
The US Dollar is rising against the Rupee but is falling versus its major peers. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies, trades -0.05% at the time of writing at 102.30, falling for a second straight.
The US dollar is falling against its major peers despite stronger-than-expected US inflation data.
Inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, jumped by 3.4% year on year in December, up from 3.1% in November and ahead of expectations of 3.2%.
Meanwhile, core inflation, which excludes more volatile items such as food and fuel, cooled by less than expected to 3.9% year on year, down from 4% but still above the 3.8% that analysts had penciled in.
The hotter inflation data shows that the Federal Reserve still has more work to do to lower interest rates back to the 2% target.
These views were reinforced by Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland president Loretta Mester, who said that it was still too early to consider cutting rates in the March meeting, highlighting the latest inflation data, which shows that the Fed can’t yet claim victory against inflation yet.
