Rupee opened flat, Dollar down vs. major currencies

Tuesday,   29-Sep-2020   10:58 AM (IST)

The Indian rupee opened the day flat at 73.78/79 levels compared to its previous close at 73.7750/7850 levels as traders await cues from the first U.S. presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden today. Reuters has reported this morning, mentioning Mint newspaper that Walmart is in talks with TATA Group for an investment of $25 Bn in the Indian salt-to-software conglomerate's new "super app". Separately, Bloomberg News reported Tata Group is in discussions with potential investors about stakes in the new digital platform. Indian government bond yields largely unchanged in early trade as investors await fresh supply and release of 2H borrowing calendar that is likely tomorrow. Equity markets were trading flat with a positive bias on Tuesday, on the back of firm cues from the main Wall Street indices. At 10:22 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 38,082, up 100 point, while the broader Nifty50 was at 11,259 up 31 point. As per the technical indicators range for the USDINR pair may be 73.45-74.05 levels. Rupee has an immediate support at 73.95 levels. A breach of the same may see rupee at 74.07 followed by 74.29 levels. On the positive side rupee is likely to face resistance at 73.65 levels and if it is able to break the same then it may gain up to 73.45 levels followed by 73.27 levels.

The dollar was down on Tuesday morning in Asia, as the U.S. presidential debate and developments on the latest U.S. stimulus measures continue to remain in the spotlight. The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies inched down 0.03% to 94.278, slipping from the two-month high seen during the previous week. With November’s presidential election drawing closer, investors are focusing on the debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden, due to take place later in the day. On that front, House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Monday that Democratic lawmakers would unveil a new $2.2 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, with the package’s price tag reduced as a compromise measure. The U.S. will also release economic data throughout the week, starting with September’s Conference Board (CB) consumer confidence index later in the day, the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) on Thursday, and jobs data on Friday. Investors will be looking at the data to gauge the health of the world’s largest economy. China will also release economic data, including the manufacturing and non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers Indexes (PMIs) as well as the Caixin manufacturing PMI, on Wednesday. The pound extended gains from the previous session as the European Union (EU) and the U.K. Begin a week-long round of talks. Although both parties cautioned that a post-Brexit agreement could take time to reach, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen was hopeful that a deal could still be possible.