USD/INR sentiment dents as US dollar retreats from highs

Abhishek Goenka IFA Global

The USDINR pair made a gap-down opening at 74.19 levels and traded in the range of 74.03-74.26 with a downside bias. The pair finally closed at 74.24 levels. The RBI set the reference rate at 74.1552 levels. The USDINR initially slipped in intra-day trade because foreign and private sector banks persistently sold the greenback on behalf of overseas investments into Indian companies raising funds.

The dollar also retreated from recent highs, which further dented sentiment for the pair. The pair also fell because prices of Brent crude fell in early trade. Prices of Brent crude oil fell as a spike in inflation globally led to investors anticipating interest rate hikes by major central banks, which may dent the recovery in the global economy, potentially hurting demand for oil and fuel. A sharp plunge in domestic benchmark equity indices limited the losses in the pair and later in the day the pair recovered earlier losses to settle above 74.20 levels.

Most Asian currencies were up against the dollar as the US dollar eased against a basket of major currencies since inflation surged in the UK and in the Eurozone. On an annualized basis, a premium on the one-year, exact period dollar/rupee contract rose to 4.76% as compared to 4.74% of the previous close. The 10-year G-sec benchmark closed the day at 6.345%. 15-day Variable Rate Reverse Repo auction was held today for the notified amount of Rs. 5,50,000 crore and the cut-off of the auction came in at 3.99%. After the VRRR auction money market rate closed higher at 3.62% from 3.28% of the previous close.

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Author

Abhishek Goenka

IFA Global

Mr. Abhishek Goenka is the Founder and CEO of IFA Global. He pilots the IFA Global strategic direction with a focus on relentlessly improving the existing offerings while constantly searching for the next generation of business excellence.

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