Rupee opened lower, Dollar higher vs. major currencies
Wednesday,
24-Apr-2019
09:02 AM (IST)
The Indian rupee opened the day lower at 69.8175/8275 levels compared to its previous close at 69.62/63 levels as dollar index climbs to highest in almost two-years after upbeat housing data. Indian government bonds rise in early session after RBI, in a surprise move, announces open market purchase of bonds in May. Benchmark indices opened flat with positive bias on the back of mixed global cues. At 9:32 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 38,645, up 80 points, while the broader Nifty50 was at 11,597, up 21 point. As per the technical indicators range for the USDINR pair may be 69.40-70.00 levels. Rupee has an immediate support at 69.87 levels. A breach of the same may see rupee at 70.01 followed by 70.18 levels. On the positive side rupee is likely to face resistance at 69.71 levels and if it is able to break the same then it may gain up to 69.56 levels followed by 69.38 levels.
The dollar hovered near a 22-month high against its peers on Wednesday, after strong U.S. housing data further eased concerns of a slowdown in the world's biggest economy. The dollar index versus a basket of six major currencies stood at 97.602 after rising to 97.777 overnight, it’s highest since June 2017. Data showing sales of new U.S. single-family homes jumped to a near 1-1/2-year high in March on Tuesday added to recent positive readings in retail sales and exports. The euro, which has the largest weighting within the dollar index, was a touch lower at $1.1219 after shedding 0.25 percent the previous day. U.S. first quarter GDP data on Friday could strengthen the case that while the current period of global expansion is in its late stages, the United States is on a firmer footing compared with other leading economies. The dollar was steady at 111.885 yen after suffering mild losses overnight, weighed by a decline in long-term Treasury yields. The Australian dollar was little changed at $0.7097 following a loss of 0.5 percent the previous day ahead of the closely-watched domestic inflation report. Australia's first-quarter consumer price index (CPI) data is due at 0130 GMT and analysts polled by Reuters expect core inflation to come in around 1.7 percent - undershooting the central bank's 2-3 percent target band. The Canadian dollar struggled near a four-week low of C$1.3443 marked against the greenback overnight amid expectations that the Bank of Canada (BoC) would forgo language pointing to further interest rate hikes. Canada's central bank is expected to hold its benchmark interest rate steady at a policy meeting later on Wednesday.
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