Rupee opened higher, Dollar lower vs. major currencies

Friday,   12-Oct-2018   09:07 AM (IST)

The Indian rupee opened the day higher at 73.83/84 levels compared to its previous close at 74.12/13 levels helped by a drop in global crude oil prices overnight and a recovery in the domestic share market. After the drubbing yesterday, equities have begun the session on a strong note. The Nifty has soared past 10,350, while the Sensex is higher by 400 points. At 09:19 am the Sensex is up 419.39 points or 1.23% at 34420.54, while the Nifty is higher by 135.10 points or 1.32% at 10369.80. As per the technical indicators range for the USDINR pair may be 73.40-74.10 levels. Rupee has an immediate support at 74.00 levels. A breach of the same may see rupee at 74.21 followed by 74.45 levels. On the positive side rupee is likely to face resistance at 73.72 levels and if it is able to break the same then it may gain up to 73.57 levels followed by 73.35 levels. The government will release Consumer Price Index-based (CPI) inflation and Index of Industrial Production data today after market hour.

The U.S. dollar traded near its lowest level in nearly two weeks against its major peers on Friday as declining U.S. treasury yields and further losses on Wall Street soured sentiment. The dollar index, a gauge of its value against six major currencies, traded at 95.07 on Friday, down from its monthly high of 96.16 hit on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 25,052, down 2.13 percent, at a two month low on Thursday while the S&P 500 ended 2.05 percent lower. The Dow has lost around 7 percent from the all-time high of 26,951 hit on October 3.A weaker than forecast rise in U.S. consumer prices undermined the dollar as traders cut back their wagers on the U.S. Federal Reserve stepping up the pace of its planned rate rises. Fed officials said last month they expected three rate hikes in 2019, and some have said they are open to a rate increase in December, which would be the fourth this year. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield fell to 3.1724 percent on Friday after hitting a seven-year peak of 3.261 percent on Tuesday. The euro was the primary beneficiary of broad-based dollar weakness on Friday, hitting a fresh weekly high at 1.6003 on the back of dollar selling and a positive tone in minutes of the last European Central Bank (ECB) meeting. The minutes suggested the ECB was on track to normalize its ultra-loose monetary policy this year despite concerns about slowing growth in Europe. Singapore’s central bank tightened monetary policy for the second time this year on Friday. The Singapore dollar changed hands at 1.3744.The Australian dollar were at $0.7122 on Friday, recovering from a two-year low of $0.7039 hit on Monday.