Rupee opened lower, Dollar in range vs. major currencies

Thursday,   25-Apr-2024   09:53 AM (IST)

The Indian rupee opened the day slightly lower at 83.3350/3450 levels compared to its previous close at 83.3225/3325 levels amid an uptick in U.S. Treasury yields and losses on Asian currencies and equities before the U.S. GDP data. Indian government bond yields flattish in early trade as participants await data and fresh supply. India's benchmark indexes opened lower as financials weighed, dragged down by Kotak Mahindra Bank after the Reserve Bank of India barred the lender from taking on new clients digitally. At 9:18 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 73,654 down 199 points, while the broader Nifty50 was at 22,346 down 57 points. As per the technical indicators range for the USDINR pair may be 83.20-83.50 levels. Rupee has an immediate support at 83.42 levels. A breach of the same may see rupee at 83.49 followed by 83.55 levels. On the positive side rupee is likely to face resistance at 83.29 levels and if it is able to break the same then it may gain up to 83.22 levels followed by 83.15 levels.

The yen was pinned on the weaker side of 155 per dollar on Thursday as the Bank of Japan (BOJ) kicks off its two-day rate-setting meeting, leaving traders nervous as to whether Tokyo will intervene while policy deliberations are still underway. Having traded in a tight range over the past few days, a buoyant dollar finally broke above the 155 yen level for the first time since 1990 in the previous session, and was last steady at 155.34 yen in early Asia trade. Intense speculation of intervention from Japanese authorities to shore up the yen had hampered the dollar's ascent towards the psychologically key level, seen by some market participants as a line in the sand that would prompt Tokyo to take action. The breach of the 155 yen level comes as the BOJ meets to discuss monetary policy, though expectations are for the central bank to keep its short-term interest rate target unchanged following last month's landmark exit from negative rates. Continued expectations of gradual policy tightening and a low terminal policy rate make it difficult for the yen to appreciate significantly, even if at historically depressed levels." BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said this week the central bank will raise interest rates again if trend inflation accelerates toward its 2% target as expected. In the broader market, the dollar was on the front foot, recouping some of its losses after a slight tumble earlier in the week following upbeat business activity data in the euro zone and the UK, which had in turn sent the euro and sterling higher. The euro was last 0.04% higher at $1.0702, but edged slightly away from an over one-week high hit on Wednesday, while sterling was off 0.01% at $1.2463. The dollar steadied at 105.79 against a basket of currencies, pulling away from a nearly two-week low hit in the previous session. Trading in Asia was thinned with Australia out for a holiday. The Aussie tacked on 0.04% to $0.6500, buoyed by receding bets of rate cuts from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) this year after the country's consumer price inflation slowed less than expected in the first quarter.