Rupee opened higher, Dollar higher vs. major currencies

Friday,   08-Feb-2019   09:08 AM (IST)

The Indian rupee opened the day higher at 71.38/39 levels compared to its previous close at 71.45/46 levels as decline in oil prices helps offset tepid risk appetite. Brent crude down 0.7% at $61.22, extending yesterday’s 1.7% decline. Benchmark indices opened lower following their Asian peers that slipped on concerns over US-China trade. At 9:32 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 36,794, down 177 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 11,019, down 51 points. Indian government bonds little changed in early trade. Indian government bonds gain in early trade as investors bet on more rate cuts in next fiscal year after Monetary Policy Committee cut the key policy rate by 25 basis points yesterday and said inflation may remain below target in the next one year. As per the technical indicators range for the USDINR pair may be 71.00-71.80 levels. Rupee has an immediate support at 71.55 levels. A breach of the same may see rupee at 71.68 followed by 71.93 levels. On the positive side rupee is likely to face resistance at 71.19 levels and if it is able to break the same then it may gain up to 71.01 levels followed by 70.73 levels.

The dollar held near a two-week high on Friday, as investors rushed to the safety of the greenback following a setback in U.S.-China trade negotiations and broader worries about slowing global growth. Such concerns were brought to the fore on Thursday after the European Commission sharply cut its forecasts for euro zone economic growth this year and next on expectations the bloc’s largest countries will be held back by global trade tensions and domestic challenges. Investors’ anxieties about the global economy were also compounded by comments from U.S. President Donald Trump, who said he did not plan to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping before a March 1 deadline to achieve a trade deal. The dollar index was steady at 96.56, sitting just shy of its two-week high. The index has gained for six straight sessions in a row. This was mainly due to a weaker euro, which has around 58 percent weight age in the index, and came despite the Federal Reserve’s dovish shift on interest rates last week. The euro was marginally lower at $1.1338, on track to post its fifth straight day of losses. The single currency has been stumbling due to weaker-than-expected growth data out of the eurozone and expectations that the European Central Bank will keep monetary policy accommodative this year. The yen was flat in early Asian trade at 109.78. Analysts think Japanese demand for foreign bonds has supported dollar/yen. The greenback gained around 0.8 percent versus the yen over the last week. Elsewhere, the Aussie dollar was down 0.5 percent at $0.7067 as the Reserve Bank of Australia cut its growth forecasts. The Aussie has shed more than two percent of its value so far this week after the central bank’s signaled a shift from its long-standing tightening bias earlier this week. Sterling was marginally lower at $1.2950. Traders expect the British pound to remain volatile in the near term due to the uncertainty surrounding Brexit. The United Kingdom is currently on course to leave the European Union on March 29 without a deal unless British Prime Minister Theresa May can convince the bloc to reopen the divorce agreement she reached in November.