Rupee trading lower, Pound holding gains vs. Dollar

Thursday,   11-Oct-2018   12:29 PM (IST)

The Indian rupee is trading lower at 74.39/40 levels (12:25 pm) in the afternoon deals after touching the all time low of 74.48/49 levels tracking a sell-off in regional and local shares, which raised concerns of more foreign fund outflows. Rupee opened at 74.30/31 levels today and extended losses to 74.48/49 levels, surpassing the previous low of 74.40/41 levels hit earlier this week. However, dollar sales by at least one state-run bank and a private lender, likely on behalf of the central bank at around 74.47 levels, halted the rupee from declining further. The benchmark indices are trading around 1.90 per cent lower tracking their Asian peers which sank on Thursday after Wall Street suffered its worst drubbing in eight months. At 12:17 PM, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 34099, down 661 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 10,265, down 195 points. As per the technical indicators, range for USDINR pair for the remaining part of the day may be 74.10-74.95 levels. Rupee has an immediate support at 74.47 levels. A breach of the same may see rupee falling to 74.57 followed by 74.65 and 74.74 levels. On the positive side, rupee is likely to face resistance at 74.29 levels and if it is able to break the same then it may gain up to 74.20 levels followed by 74.11 and 74.02 levels. In the forward segment 1mth, 3mth and 6mth annualized premia are currently trading at 4.57%, 4.49% and 4.38% respectively.

Sterling is trading little changed on the upside at above 1.3200 levels benefitting from Brexit deal optimism and lower US Dollar amid global equity market selloff. Sterling rose after the EU chief negotiator Barnier said the Brexit deal is done up to 85%. The Bank of England Governor Mark Carney is scheduled to speak in a panel discussion at the IMF meeting in Bali later on Thursday. The Euro is trading slightly higher against the US Dollar at around mid 1.1500s as global; stocks correct lower sharply. While ECB meeting minutes are unlikely to deliver any surprises, the US inflation data headline the macro calendar on Thursday. The USD/JPY pair reversed an early dip to sub-112.00 level, or near one-month lows, and is currently placed at the top end of its daily trading range. The pair extended last week's sharp retracement slide from 11-month tops and kept losing ground for the sixth consecutive session, with a combination of negative forces dragging the pair momentarily below the 112.00 handle during the Asian session on Thursday.