Rupee opened lower, Dollar flat vs. major currencies

Wednesday,   22-Sep-2021   10:44 AM (IST)

The Indian rupee opened the day lower at 73.7050/7150 levels compared to its previous close at 73.61/62 levels tracking decline in Asian currencies and equities ahead of Fed policy review. India’s federal government bond yields largely unchanged as investors await central bank’s simultaneous note purchase and sale due tomorrow and Federal Reserve's policy decision later today. Indian shares opened flat on Wednesday as gains in tech stocks countered losses in some banking stocks, while media giant Zee Entertainment soared after receiving board approval for its merger with Sony Pictures Networks India. At 10:27 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 59,090 up 85 point, while the broader Nifty50 was at 17,585 up 23 point. As per the technical indicators range for the USDINR pair may be 73.50-73.90 levels. Rupee has an immediate support at 73.74 levels. A breach of the same may see rupee at 73.85 followed by 74.00 levels. On the positive side rupee is likely to face resistance at 73.59 levels and if it is able to break the same then it may gain up to 73.50 levels followed by 73.42 levels.

The Australian dollar jumped and the safe-haven yen eased slightly on Wednesday after struggling Chinese property giant Evergrande said it would make an upcoming bond coupon, allaying immediate fears about a messy corporate collapse. Some of the excitement fizzled, however, after traders realised it was still not known whether the developer would be able to pay the coupon on its offshore dollar bonds due on Thursday. The Australian dollar rose as much as 0.49% to $0.7268 before giving up part of the gains to trade at $0.7247, up 0.2% on the day. The yen weakened about 0.2% to 109.485 to the dollar, showing little reaction to the Bank of Japan's decision to keep its policy on hold. Investors are still nervous about the fate of Evergrande, which missed interest payments due Monday to at least two of its largest bank creditors, Bloomberg reported. The dollar index stood at 93.226 in early Asian trade, staying not far off Monday's one-month high of 93.455. The euro hardly budged at $1.1725, having stabilized at a one-month low of $1.1700 on Monday. Earlier, the common currency dropped to a seven-month low of 127.93 yen, as the safe-haven Japanese currency was supported by the cautious mood. The Chinese Yuan was fairly stable, firming slightly to 6.4748 per dollar in the offshore trade, edging back from one-month low of 6.4878 set on Monday. The onshore Yuan traded at similar levels, down slightly from its Friday's close before a long weekend, at 6.4715.