Rupee tad lower, Australian Dollar up

Friday,   11-Jan-2019   12:19 PM (IST)

The Indian rupee is currently trading tad lower at 70.47/48 levels (12:15 pm) in the afternoon deals after touching the low of 70.4950/5050 levels as importers’ demand for the U.S. currency offset gains led by broad weakness in the greenback after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated his view to be patient on interest rates. So far rupee traded in the range of 70.35-70.4950 levels. Sensex is down 153 pts and Nifty is trading below 10,800. As per the technical indicators, range for USDINR pair for the remaining part of the day may be 70.00-70.75 levels. Rupee has an immediate support at 70.53 levels. A breach of the same may see rupee at 70.68 followed by 70.77 and 70.86 levels. On the positive side rupee is likely to face resistance at 70.39 levels and if it is able to break the same then it may gain up to 70.30 levels followed by 70.19 and 70.08 levels. In the forward segment 1mth, 3mth and 6mth annualized premia are currently trading at 3.94%, 3.97% and 4.02% respectively.

The Australian dollar climbed on Friday in Asia after data of the country’s retail sales for November came in better than expected. Sales rose 0.4% month-on-month, up from the 0.3% growth in October and above analysts’ estimates of a 0.3% gain. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar slipped after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated that the central bank could afford to be patient on monetary policy. Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida echoed his comment on Thursday. The USD/CNY pair was down 0.6% at 6.7460 as the People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the Yuan reference rate at 6.7909 vs. the previous day's fix of 6.8160. The Sino-U.S. trade dispute remains in focus after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday that Chinese Vice Premier Liu He may visit Washington later in January. Beijing and Washington concluded the latest round of trade talks on Wednesday. China’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement that discussions with the U.S. were “extensive and detailed,” and that both sides agreed to continue to keep in close contact.