Rupee moves up, AUDUSD higher

Monday,   24-Jun-2019   12:18 PM (IST)

The Indian rupee moves up and is currently trading at 69.4775/4875 levels (12:02 pm) in the afternoon trade as the dollar index extended losses to near three-month lows that offset impact from uptick in crude oil prices. So far rupee traded in the range of 69.4775-69.61 levels. The dollar index continues to reel under the pressure after Fed outlook being dovish and on hopes that a U.S.-China trade deal is coming, further putting pressure on the U.S currency. The Reserve Bank of India’s Deputy Governor and rate-setting panel member Viral Acharya has resigned six months before the scheduled end of his term, according to media reports. At 12:09 PM, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 39,202 up 7 points, while the broader Nifty50 was at 11,728, up 4 points. As per the technical indicators, range for USDINR pair for the remaining part of the day may be 69.30-69.75 levels. Rupee has an immediate support at 69.56 levels. A breach of the same may see rupee at 69.66 followed by 69.75 and 69.84 levels. On the positive side rupee is likely to face resistance at 69.44 levels and if it is able to break the same then it may gain up to 69.30 levels followed by 69.22 and 69.12 levels. In the forward segment 1mth, 3mth and 6mth annualized premia are currently trading at 4.82%, 4.57% and 4.49% respectively.

Cautious optimism prevailed across the financial markets in Asia on Monday, following the weekend news that the US-China trade talks have kicked-off heading into the Trump-XI meeting at the G20 Summit later this week. However, escalating US-Iran geopolitical tensions kept the investors slightly unnerved while the US dollar continued to trade on the back foot across its main competitors, as Treasury yields lagged amid dovish Fed rate expectations. The top performer this session was the Australian dollar that jumped on the upbeat remarks from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) Governor Lowe. The AUD/USD pair rallied 0.50% to reach fresh multi-day tops at 0.6961. Meanwhile, its OZ peer, the NZD/USD pair also followed suit and traded firmer around the 0.66 handle. The USD/JPY pair recovered from a dip to near 107.30 region amid firmer S&P 500 futures. But the further upside appeared capped near 107.50 amid a broadly weaker US dollar. The USD/CAD pair also suffered moderate losses on higher oil prices. Gold prices on Comex held onto last week’s gains and kept its range above the key 1400 level.