Rupee opened lower, Dollar dips vs. Yen

Thursday,   06-Dec-2018   09:04 AM (IST)

The Indian rupee opened the day lower at 70.79/80 levels compared to its previous close at 70.46/47 levels and dropped further to 70.99/71.00 levels in early deals after regional equities extend declines alongside US equity index futures. Benchmark indices opened lower taking cues from their weak Asian peers. At 9:32 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 35,596, down 289 points while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 10,686, down 97 points. Indian government bonds continue to rally with 10-year benchmark yield slipping below 7.40% first time in eight months, as sentiment remains positive after dovish commentary from Monetary Policy Committee yesterday. As per the technical indicators range for the USDINR pair may be 70.50-71.25 levels. Rupee has an immediate support at 71.00 levels. A breach of the same may see rupee at 71.18 followed by 71.40 levels. On the positive side rupee is likely to face resistance at 70.75 levels and if it is able to break the same then it may gain up to 70.44 levels followed by 70.23 levels.

The dollar dipped against the safe-haven yen on Thursday amid a spike in risk aversion, as equities continued their retreat on concerns about growth in the world’s largest economy. The U.S. currency dipped to 112.65 yen, handing back some of the modest gains made overnight. Global equity markets have been shaken and the dollar fell this week after an inversion in a part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve triggered market concerns about economic growth. The spread between the two-year and five-year Treasury yields inverted this week and the two-year/10-year spread was at its flattest in more than a decade amid a sharp fall in long-term rates. A flatter curve is seen as an indicator of a slowing economy, with lower longer-dated yields suggesting that the markets see economic weakness ahead. The 10-year Treasury yield fell to a three-month low of 2.885 percent on Tuesday and last stood at 2.920 percent. Fed policymakers are due to gather at a Dec. 18-19 meeting, at which the central bank is widely expected to raise interest rates. Focus is on how many rate hikes the Fed could for 2019. Also adding to global market jitters on Thursday was the arrest in Canada of a top executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies, fanning fears of further tensions between China and the United States. The Aussie was on a shaky footing after shedding nearly 1 percent the previous day on weaker-than-expected third quarter Australian gross domestic product data. The pound was a shade lower at $1.2719. Sterling had sunk to a 17-month low of $1.2659 on Tuesday after parliamentary setbacks for Prime Minister Theresa May but clawed back some of those losses on a more positive outlook for Brexit.