Rupee higher, Australian Dollar lower

Wednesday,   12-Jun-2019   12:22 PM (IST)

The Indian rupee is trading higher at 69.39/40 levels (12:15 pm) in the afternoon deals after touching the high of 69.3675/3775 levels helped by foreign banks’ dollar sales and a pullback in crude oil prices. So far rupee traded in the range of 69.3675-69.45 levels. At 12:06 PM, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 39,698 down 252 points, while the broader Nifty50 was at 11,888, down 77 points. As per the technical indicators, range for USDINR pair for the remaining part of the day may be 69.15-69.65 levels. Rupee has an immediate support at 69.44 levels. A breach of the same may see rupee at 69.52 followed by 69.59 and 69.67 levels. On the positive side rupee is likely to face resistance at 69.35 levels and if it is able to break the same then it may gain up to 69.27 levels followed by 69.18 and 69.08 levels. In the forward segment 1mth, 3mth and 6mth annualized premia are currently trading at 4.01%, 3.98% and 4.04% respectively. Retail inflation data and IIP data are due later today, and will be closely watched by traders.

A sense of caution prevailed across the financial markets in Wednesday’s Asian trading, as markets remained wary amid the latest tough stance adopted by the White House on China. The US President Trump said on Tuesday that he had no interest in moving ahead unless Beijing agrees again to four or five "major points" that Trump, however, did not specify. As a result, the demand for the safe-havens was lifted at the expense of the risk/higher-yielding assets. Among the G10 currencies, the Antipodeans were dragged lower by weak fundamentals and softer risk tones. The Kiwi fell further below the 0.66 handle after New Zealand’s retail spending fell by 0.5% in May. The Aussie hit fresh weekly lows sub-0.6950 following the second consecutive fall in the consumer confidence gauge. Both the OZ currencies failed to benefit from the in-line with estimates Chinese inflation figures and record higher iron-ore prices. The Yen traded on the front foot alongside gold prices, keeping USD/JPY under pressure below the 100-day SMA at 108.65. The Loonie traded firmer just shy of the 1.33 handle amid a sell-off in oil prices. Meanwhile, both the European currency pairs, EUR/USD and Cable traded modestly flat amid a broadly subdued US dollar and negative Treasury yields.