The rupee settled at 70.4125 against 70.46 at the previous close. The
local unit moved in 70.32-70.6550 per dollar band intra-day.
The Indian rupee rose for the first time in three days against the
dollar, as exporters’ dollar sales in late trade and dovish minutes of
the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting erased early losses from
overnight spike in crude oil prices. Dollar sales by exporters in late
trade after the USD/INR pair failed to break a key resistance around
70.65, helped some marginal rise in the rupee. The recent surge in
crude prices and expectation that oil prices will only rise further has
promoted importers to step up dollar purchases that weighed on the
unit for most of the session.
Global Currency
The dollar was slightly higher on Thursday after dovish minutes from
the Federal Reserve in the previous session caused a steep decline in
the dollar. Minutes from the Fed’s December meeting showed that
many policymakers are in favor of rates staying steady this year,
increasing expectations that there will be no hikes in 2019. The
dovish tone drove the dollar down to an almost three-month low of
94.63. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the dollar strength
against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.15% to 94.94.
The euro was down due to the higher dollar, with EUR/USD down
0.15% to 1.1523. Sterling was also strained, as Brexit woes continue
to dampen investor sentiment. GBP/USD slipped 0.19% to 1.2761.
Global Markets
U.S. oil exports have set off a scramble to build Gulf Coast ports to
handle more than 3 million barrels per day in new supplies expected
over the next five years.
Gold prices edged up on Thursday in Asia after the U.S. dollar slipped
amid growing expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would halt
its rate tightening cycle in 2019. Gold futures for February delivery
traded 0.4% higher to 1,296.55.
