India Rupee At Near 2-Month High On Likely Dollar Inflows

The rupee settled at 70.28 against 70.4850 at the previous close. The local unit moved in 70.26 -70.67 per dollar band intra-day.
The Indian rupee rose to a fresh near-two-month-high against the dollar, as likely foreign fund inflows amid strong local shares outweighed early losses from better-than-expected U.S. macroeconomic data that boosted greenback demand. Weakness in the rupee in early trade was owing to higher dollar index. However, dollar inflows for year-end payments and foreign fund inflows in domestic markets helped the rupee recoup losses. Greenback demand from state-run banks, which could be on behalf of the central bank and oil importers, kept the gains limited.

The U.S. dollar held steady near a two-week high against its major peers in early European hours on Wednesday, while the Australian dollar sank to its lowest level of the year after data showed the economy slowed to a near standstill in the fourth quarter. The dollar was a tad lower against the yen at 111.85 (USD/JPY), after hitting a high of 112.13 a day earlier, its strongest since Dec. 20.
The euro was down a shade at $1.1298 EUR= , hovering near twoweek lows versus the greenback amid bets that the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday would indicate a delay in raising rates until next year and the ECB will soon re-launch long-term bank loans to fight an economic slowdown.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday as bullish output forecasts by two big U.S. producers and a build in weekly U.S. crude stockpiles outweighed OPEC-led production cuts. WTI crude oil futures CLc1 were down 0.7 percent, or 41 cents, at $56.15 per barrel.
Gold prices inched up on Wednesday, after recovering from a more than five-week low in the previous session, supported by a pause in global equities' rally, while a firmer dollar curbed gains.

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