Rupee opened lower, Euro higher vs. Dollar

Monday,   24-Jun-2019   09:05 AM (IST)

The Indian rupee opened the day lower at 69.60/61 levels compared to its previous close at 69.55/56 levels as oil extends gains, offsetting broad dollar losses. Brent crude up 0.4% at $63.46 after Trump reportedly says he will impose more sanctions on Iran. It jumped more than 5% last week, best performance since mid-February, on US-Iran tensions. Indian federal government bonds gain in early trade after media report that Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor and MPC member Viral Acharya has resigned. Benchmark indices opened with minor gains, lifted by IndusInd Bank and Larsen & Toubro while auto stocks were the biggest drags. At 9:29 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 39,246, up 51 point, while the broader Nifty50 was at 11,737, up 13 point. As per the technical indicators range for the USDINR pair may be 69.35-69.85 levels. Rupee has an immediate support at 69.70 levels. A breach of the same may see rupee at 69.85 followed by 69.94 levels. On the positive side rupee is likely to face resistance at 69.45 levels and if it is able to break the same then it may gain up to 69.36 levels followed by 69.21 levels.

The euro rose to a three-month high against the dollar on Monday, as bearish bets on the U.S. currency remained solid on prospects of a near-term interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve. The euro stretched its rally last week, up 1.4%, and advanced about 0.15% to $1.1386 in early Asian trade, its highest since March 22. The dollar index versus a basket of six major currencies was a shade lower at 96.135, having struck 96.093 on Friday, its lowest since March 21, after the Fed last week opened the door for a potential rate cut as early as next month. That weighed on the dollar and in turn reinvigorated its counterparts like the euro, which has had troubles of its own including Italy’s debt problem and the possibility of the European Central Bank having to ease policy. The dollar nudged up 0.1% to 107.400 yen after retreating to a near six-month low of 107.045 on Friday. The U.S. currency was pressured even more against the yen, which often serves as a safe haven in times of political angst, as tensions grew between Iran and the United States. Also in focus was whether Washington and Beijing can resolve their trade dispute at a summit in Japan this week of leaders from the Group of 20 leading world economies. The Australian dollar was up 0.4% at $0.6952 after Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe said it would be legitimate to question the effectiveness of global monetary policy easing to boost economic growth. The comments were perceived to be slightly less dovish as just last week Lowe said a recent cut in Australia interest rates to an all-time low of 1.25% would not be enough to revive economic growth.