- Indian Rupee (INR) falls despite risk on mood as China re-opens
- Oil jumps over 3%
- US Dollar (USD) falls versus major peers
- US NFP wage growth slowed
The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is rising on Monday after losses last week. The pair fell -0.5% in the previous week, settling on Friday at 82.27. Today, at 11:30, USD/INR trades +0.09% at 82.34, trading in a range between 82.17 to 82.44.
The Rupee is falling despite the broadly upbeat market mood and risk-on environment after China re-opened its land, sea, and air borders at the weekend as it bid farewell to zero-COVID restrictions, which have isolated China from the rest of the world for the past three years.
The move is expected to help growth rebound, although cases are also surging in the country.
Oil prices have surged over 3% on the back of the news. Rising oil prices are back news for India, which imports over 80% of its domestic oil needs.
The US Dollar is rising against the Rupee but falling against its major peers. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies, trades at -0.1% at the time of writing at 103.63, extending losses from Friday.
The USD fell sharply on Friday after mixed data. The US non-farm payroll showed that 220,000 jobs were added in December, ahead of the 200,000 forecast and up from 202,000 in November. However, wage growth was 4.6% year on year, below the 5.1% forecast and down from 4.8% in November.
US ISM services PMI was also weaker than expected, dropping to a two-and-a-half-year low, at 49.6. This was below the key 50 level, which separates expansion from contraction.
Slow wage growth and contracting services raised expectations that the Fed could slow the pace of rate hikes and adopt a more dovish approach to monetary policy.
Today there is no high-impacting US data due to be released today. However, US inflation later in the week is expected to be the key focus for the market this week.
