USD/INR pulls back from nine-day high as news from S&P dims risk-off, RBI in focus

USD/INR drops to the intra-day low of 71.71 during the initial trading session of the Indian markets on Wednesday. The pair earlier surged to the nine-day high amid increasing global trade pessimism. Though, news from S&P offered a sigh of relief to the Indian traders.

As per the tweet from India’s Economic Affairs Secretary Atanu Chakraborty, the global rating agency S&P reaffirmed the sovereign rating of India at BBB- with a stable outlook. The news received a good response from Indian rupee (INR) Bulls as another rating giant, Moody’s, cut the Asian nation’s credit rating outlook to negative during last month.

While the news helps Indian equity benchmarks to deviate from other Asian counterparts, the rise of stocks seems to be capped by the fears of a trade war between the United States (US) and China. US President Donald Trump recently dimmed chances of a phase-one deal during this year while also indicating further hardships for the European, Japanese and East American exporters.

Traders will keep eyes on the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monetary policy meeting, up for Thursday, for immediate direction ahead of Friday’s US employment data.

While the RBI is expected to announce another rate cut despite axing benchmark rates by almost 135 basis points (bps) during the present year. The Indian central bank could also show worries concerning the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) after the data recently dropped to a multi-year low. Further, the US employment figures could keep portraying the strength of the labor market and might support the US dollar (USD).

Technical Analysis

61.8% Fibonacci retracement of November month upside, near 71.20, restricts the pair’s near-term declines while November month top near 72.40 caps the quote’s short-term rise.