Rupee in range, Australian Dollar higher

Thursday,   29-Jun-2017   12:17 PM (IST)

The Indian rupee is trading range bound and is currently quoted 64.47/48 levels (12:15 pm) in the afternoon deals after touching the high of 64.4475/4575 levels as hints of interest rates hike across Europe lifted the euro and British Pound Sterling, damping demand for the greenback. So far rupee traded in the range of 64.4475-64.4850 levels. As per the technical indicators range for the USDINR pair for the remaining part of the day may be 64.25-64.65 levels. Rupee has an immediate support at 64.49 levels. A breach of the same may see rupee at 64.53 followed by 64.57 and 64.61 levels. On the positive side rupee is likely to face resistance at 64.43 levels and if it is able to break the same then it may gain up to 64.40 levels followed by 64.34 and 64.25 levels. In the forward segment 1mth, 3mth and 6mth annualized premia are currently trading at 4.64%, 4.67% and 4.57% respectively.

The Australian and New Zealand dollars were higher on Thursday, as sentiment on the greenback remained vulnerable amid U.S. political concerns and after upbeat New Zealand business confidence data. AUD/USD gained to 0.7664, the highest since March 30. The greenback remained under pressure after U.S. Senate Republicans postponed a vote on the Trump administration’s healthcare bill on Tuesday, as they faced resistance from party members. Investors are concerned that the administration will not be able to implement tax cuts and fiscal stimulus steps, without first getting the healthcare bill passed. Meanwhile, market participants were looking ahead to reports on U.S. first-quarter growth and unemployment claims due later in the day, for further indications on the strength of the economy. NZD/USD added 0.12% to trade at 0.7314, just off Tuesday’s four-month peak of 0.7344. Data earlier showed that New Zealand’s ANZ Business Confidence index rose to 24.8 in June from 14.9 the previous month. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.21% at a fresh eight-month low of 95.58.