Investors remain concerned about slowing growth and the prospects of monetary policy
|The USDINR pair made a flat opening at 74.50 levels and traded in the range of 74.41-74.55 with a downside bias. The pair finally closed at 74.42 levels. The RBI set the reference rate at 74.5343. Earlier in the day, the USDINR pair had risen by US dollar purchases by some big state-owned banks ahead of daily reference rate fixing. However, later the USDINR pair slipped because some private and foreign banks stepped in to sell the US dollar, likely for foreign fund inflows into Indian companies.
Globally the US dollar remained elevated against other major currencies amid expectations that the Federal Reserve will tighten monetary policy more aggressively than previously anticipated. The outcome of the US Federal Reserve meeting is expected to provide cues on when the central bank will speed up paring its bond purchases and hike interest rates. Most global equity indices fell today as investors remained concerned about slowing growth and the prospects of monetary policy normalization by central banks globally.
The retail sales in the UK slumped in December due to the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus and the related government restrictions. Retail sales fell by 3.7% m-o-m from last month, the biggest fall since January last year when the country was under a COVID-induced lockdown. Economists in a Reuters poll had forecast a 0.6% decline only. Oil prices fell today after rising to seven-year highs this week, after an unexpected rise in US crude and fuel inventories, and as investors took profits.
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