- Indian Rupee (INR) holds steady despite weaker growth outlook
- Rising inflation is expected to cut consumption
- US Dollar (USD) falls after 9 days of gains
- US PPI rises 11.2% YoY
The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is holding steady on Wednesday after a sharp rise in the previous session. The pair settled +0.3% higher on Wednesday at 76.05. At 16:30 UTC, USD/INR trades +0.01% at 76.06.
The Indian Rupee is holding steady against a weaker USD after the World Bank cut its economic growth forecast for India and the entire South Asian region owing to worsening supply bottlenecks and rising inflation caused by the Ukraine crisis.
The International lender slashed its growth outlook for India to 8%, down from 8.7% for the current fiscal year. Meanwhile it cut its growth forecast for the Southern Asian region by 1% to 6.6%.
The World Bank said that it expects household consumption to be constrained by rising inflationary pressures cause by high oil and food prices amid the fallout from the Ukraine war.
The US Dollar is steady versus the Rupee but is falling versus its major peers. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies trades -0.44% at the time of writing at 99.89 after nine straight days of gains.
The US dollar is falling lower as investors pare back their hawkish Federal Reserve bets but the move comes after a long run of gains. Yesterday the US dollar charged higher after inflation data showed that inflation was hot.
Consumer prices rose 8.5% ahead of the 8.3% forecast year on year in March, up from 7.9% in February. The data also showed that core inflation which excludes more volatile items such as food and fuel rose to 6.5%, which was less than the 6.6% forecast. The data boosted the US Dollar index to an almost 2 year high at 100.33.
Today US PPI inflation also came in above forecasts jumping 11.2% year on year in March, up from 10% in February and well ahead of the 10.5% forecast. However, the US Dollar has fallen since the release of the data in as investors appears to believe that inflation in peaking.
