- Indian Rupee (INR) falls for a second day
- Oil prices rise to a 2-month high
- US Dollar (USD) is rising against its major peers
- US JOLTS job openings unexpectedly
The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is rising for a second day. The pair rose 0.1% in the previous session, settling on Monday at 83.43. At 18:00 UTC, USD/INR trades 0.05% at 83.48 and is in a range of 83.43 to 83.56.
The Indian rupee weekend on Tuesday amid a further rise of crude oil prices.
Crude oil has risen to a fresh two-month high on rising optimism of strong gasoline demand in the US. Driving season. According to the American Automobile Association, travel and key summer driving are expected to ramp up 5.2% compared to last year.
Meanwhile, the supply side is also being eyed as hurricane Beryl gathers pace in the Caribbean and could affect US refinery production.
Higher oil prices are bad news for India, which imports around 80% of its oil needs and is the world’s third-largest oil consumer after the US and China.
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 -0.05% at the time of writing at 105.80, marking its fourth straight day of losses.
The US dollar is inching lower as investors weigh up dovish commentary from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell against stronger-than-expected jolts jobs opening data.
Jobs openings unexpectedly rose to 8 point 14 million in May versus the 7.9 million expected, highlighting the resilience of the US labour market.
The number of vacancies per unemployed worker, which is a ratio that the Federal Reserve watched closely, remained unchanged at 1.2, matching its lowest level since June 2021.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell spoke at the ACB conference in Portugal and adopted a noticeably more dovish tone. Powell expressed satisfaction with the progress on inflation, saying that the Fed has made quite a bit of progress but needs to see more before being confident enough to start cutting interest rates.
His comments come after core PCE cooled in line with forecasts and as recent data from the US has pointed to a softening in the economy.
The market is pricing in a 69% probability that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in September and is still expecting 2 interest rate cuts from the central bank by the end of the year.
This is in contrast to the Federal Reserve, which projected just one interest rate cut at the June FOMC interest rate decision.
