Rupee opened almost flat, Dollar lower vs. major currencies

Wednesday,   12-Jun-2019   09:03 AM (IST)

The Indian rupee opened the day almost flat at 69.45/46 levels compared to its previous close at 69.44/45 levels and moved up to 69.3675/3775 in early deals on dollar sales by foreign banks. Indian government bonds rise as crude oil prices ease and as traders await May retail inflation data that is seen below central bank’s target. Benchmark Indices are trading in the negative territory ahead of the release of key macro data such as CPI inflation for May and IIP growth print for April. At 9:20 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 39,790, down 161 point, while the broader Nifty50 was at 11,923, down 43 point. As per the technical indicators range for the USDINR pair may be 69.15-69.65 levels. Rupee has an immediate support at 69.52 levels. A breach of the same may see rupee at 69.65 followed by 69.77 levels. On the positive side rupee is likely to face resistance at 69.32 levels and if it is able to break the same then it may gain up to 69.21 levels followed by 69.08 levels.

The dollar hung near an 11-week low against its peers on Wednesday, weighed by expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve could cut interest rates sometime in the next few months. The dollar index versus a basket of six major currencies was flat at 96.698, trading just above the 96.459 level it hit on Monday, its lowest since March 25. The index has been under pressure following a sharp decline in long-term U.S. Treasury yields, which fell to near two-year lows on Friday after a soft U.S. jobs report raised expectations for an interest rate cut by the Fed. Investor focus is now on the Fed's next policy meeting on June 18-19 and what kind of signals the central bank could offer on the direction of monetary policy. Expectations for a central bank rate cut this year rose last week after a number of Fed officials, including Chairman Jerome Powell, hinted they were open to easing monetary policy. The euro was steady at $1.1328 and in close reach of a three-month peak of $1.1348 scaled on Friday. The single currency was little affected by U.S. President Donald Trump's accusation that Europe was devaluing the euro, which has gained roughly 1.4% against the dollar so far in June. The dollar was little changed at 108.495 yen. The greenback has crawled off a five-month low of 107.810 plumbed a week ago when risk aversion in the broader markets heightened demand for the safe-haven yen. China's yuan was steady in offshore trade at 6.9259 per dollar after bouncing back the previous day from seven-month lows. The yuan had risen on Tuesday after China's central bank said it would sell yuan-denominated bills in Hong Kong in late June, in a move that some market analysts believed was aimed at stemming a sharp decline in the yuan. An escalation in the U.S.-China trade conflict has weighed heavily on the yuan this year.