Rupee opened higher, Sterling lower vs. Dollar

Friday,   20-Nov-2020   11:03 AM (IST)

The Indian rupee opened the day higher at 74.13/14 levels compared to its previous close at 74.2650/2750 levels tracking recovery in Indian equities, upbeat Asian peers. India's government bond yields little changed in light trading as traders await fresh supply via weekly debt auction; benchmark note now at Rs 99.20, yielding 5.88%, against Rs 99.21 and 5.88% yield yesterday. At 10:30 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 43,793, up 193 point, while the broader Nifty50 was at 12,830 up 58 points. As per the technical indicators range for the USDINR pair may be 73.85-74.35 levels. Rupee has an immediate support at 74.26 levels. A breach of the same may see rupee at 74.36 followed by 74.43 levels. On the positive side rupee is likely to face resistance at 74.02 levels and if it is able to break the same then it may gain up to 73.91 levels followed by 73.75 levels.

Sterling is trading lower against the dollar after the Times newspaper reported that European leaders will urge the European Commission to publish no-deal Brexit plans as the year-end deadline approaches. World financial markets were hit by a wave of uncertainty on Friday after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called for an end to coronavirus pandemic relief for struggling businesses, sparking a rare clash between the central bank and Treasury. In a letter to U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Mnuchin said the $455 billion allocated to Treasury under the CARES Act should be instead available for Congress to reallocate. Although the programmes were not used extensively, Fed officials felt their presence reassured financial markets and investors that credit would remain available to help businesses, local agencies and even nonprofits through the pandemic downturn. Mnuchin's decision added to market anxiety about broader economic growth as data shows the early fast recovery from a historic plunge in the U.S. economy is fading, with more than 10 million who had jobs in January still out of work. Investor sentiment was also affected by data that showed COVID-19 hospitalisations across the United States jumped by nearly 50% in the last two weeks, threatening the recovery of the world's largest economy as cities and states began to impose lockdowns. Nearly 79,000 people were being treated for COVID-19 infections in U.S. hospitals on Thursday, a Reuters tally showed, the most at any time during the pandemic. The United States recorded 161,607 new daily cases on a seven-day rolling average as of Wednesday. All three major U.S. stock indexes, however, got a healthy boost overnight after Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had agreed to revive talks to craft a new fiscal relief package. A senior Democratic aide told Reuters there had been a mid-afternoon meeting on Thursday among congressional aides that discussed coronavirus relief and efforts to pass a $1.4 trillion bill to keep government agencies operating beyond Dec. 11 when current funding expires.