India Rupee At 2-Month High On Corporate Inflows, Strong Shares

The rupee settled at 70.4850 against 70.9050 at the previous close. The local unit moved in 70.45 -70.9850 per dollar band intra-day.
The Indian rupee jumped to a near-two-month high against the dollar, helped by corporate dollar inflows following a long weekend and strong local shares. The rupee was expected to remain under pressure today on U.S. President Trump’s statement on India trade tariff, but corporate dollar inflows after yesterday’s holiday and foreign portfolio flows helped the unit to recover. Rally in local shares and lack of reports of further escalation in tensions between India and Pakistan relations drove traders to cut their long dollar positions, triggering stop losses.

The U.S. dollar held within sight of a two-week high against its major peers in early European hours on Tuesday, as China cut its 2019 economic growth target, dimming the outlook for global growth. China said on Tuesday it was targeting economic growth of 6.0% to 6.5% in 2019, down from the 6.6% growth reported last year, which was already the lowest in decades.
The euro fell towards a one-week low on Tuesday as the dollar gained broadly and investors began pricing in more caution from the European Central Bank at its meeting on Thursday. The ECB is facing growing pressure to address the question of how to protect the euro zone economy from a protracted slowdown.

Oil fell towards $65 a barrel on Tuesday, pressured by the restart of Libya's biggest oilfield and on expectations for an increase in U.S. crude inventories. Some wells at Libya's El Sharara oilfield have restarted and the aim is to reach initial output of 80,000 brl per day.
Gold prices held close to a more than five-week low on Tuesday as the dollar firmed and global equity markets held near a five-month crest, making bullion less appealing for investors.

Date	Time	Currency	Event	Actual	Forecast	Previous
05/03/2019	15.00	GBP	Services PMI (Feb)	51.3	49.9	50.1

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