Rupee trading flat, Pound lowers versus dollar

Monday,   21-May-2018   12:38 PM (IST)

The Indian rupee is trading flat at 68.08/09 levels (12:15 pm) in the afternoon deals after touching the low of 68.1550/1650 levels as some dollar sales by exporters limited the losses in the currency. Indian Government Bonds Fall On Lack Of OMO Purchase Announcement. The market continued to trade lower for fourth consecutive session today amid higher crude oil prices and weaker rupee. As per the technical indicators, range for USDINR pair for the remaining part of the day may be 67.90-68.50 levels. Rupee has an immediate support at 68.20 levels. A breach of the same may see rupee falling to 68.30 followed by 68.55 levels. On the positive side, rupee is likely to face resistance at 67.90 levels and if it is able to break the same then it may gain up to 67.70 levels followed by 67.58 levels. In the forward segment 1mth, 3mth and 6mth annualized premia are currently trading at 3.91%, 3.87% and 3.89% respectively.

The British Pound declined as Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon pledged to “restart” her campaign for secession from the UK. She is due to unveil a revamped economic policy framework this week, and hinted it would be an “important moment” in the move toward Scottish independence. That stoked speculation that Sturgeon will call for the use of Sterling to be discontinued in favor of a national, Scottish currency. The Australian Dollar soared alongside stocks while the perennially anti-risk Japanese Yen declined as Asia Pacific markets began the trading week in a chipper mood. That seems to reflect the apparent cooling of commercial tensions between the US and China. The Trump administration tabled new tariffs in exchange for China’s pledge to “significantly increase purchases” of US-made goods. Looking ahead, an empty data docket in Europe and a lackluster one in the US will likely leave sentiment trends in control. FTSE 100 and S&P 500 futures are pointing convincingly higher, hinting at a risk-on bias that bodes ill for funding currencies such as the Yen and the Swiss Franc. On the other hand, the US Dollar may rise as the lone beneficiary of an overtly hawkish central bank in the G10 FX space.