Rupee ended lower, Pound steady vs. Dollar

Tuesday,   14-Sep-2021   04:04 PM (IST)

The Indian rupee ended the session lower at 73.6775/6875 levels compared to its opening at 73.6225/6325 levels after touching the low of 73.7050/7150 levels ahead of inflation data from the world’s largest economy that may provide more cues on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s taper timeline. Rupee traded in the range of 73.5775-73.7050 levels. Asian currencies were mostly higher. Indian federal government bond yields ended flattish as investors assessed the pace of policy normalisation after inflation eased to a four-month low in August. Led by gains in select IT and private bank stocks, the benchmark indices settled in the green on Tuesday, rising for the second time in the last three sessions. Sensex ended 69 points higher at 58,247.09. Meanwhile, NSE Nifty closed the day at 17,380, up 25 points.  In the forward segment 1mth, 3mth and 6mth annualized premia ended the day at 3.63%, 3.47% and 3.74% respectively. 

Sterling steadied close to 5-week highs against the dollar and 3-week highs against the euro on Tuesday, supported by labour market data that showed the total number of payrolled employees in Britain has climbed to pre-pandemic levels. The pound has been range-bound in recent days as investors assess Britain’s post-lockdown economic recovery and how that may play into the Bank of England’s stance on interest rates, currently at record lows. British employers added a record 241,000 staff to their payrolls last month, lifting the total number of payrolled employees just above the level they were before Britain first went into a COVID-19 lockdown last year, official data showed on Tuesday. Businesses reported more than 1 million vacancies in August - an all-time high - and the unemployment rate fell slightly to 4.6% in the three months to July, the Office for National Statistics said, in line with economists’ expectations in a Reuters poll. The data shows continued recovery in Britain’s job market as the government phases out its furlough support programme, which will finish on Sept. 30. Sterling traded 0.3% higher on the day at $1.3863, making a steady climb into positive territory after the data, which was released at 0600 GMT. That was off a 5-week high of $1.3890 hit earlier on Sept 3. Against the euro, the pound was 0.2% higher at 85.20 pence per euro, off a 3-week high of 85.11 pence hit on Monday.