The rupee weakened for the second straight session as it slipped by almost 5 paise to a low of 68.87 against the US dollar in opening trade on Wednesday. An increased demand for the US currency and the strength of the dollar against some currencies overseas impacted the rupee’s movement. Besides, the constant outflow of foreign funds and an escalating US-China trade spat, too, weighed on the rupee. On Tuesday, the rupee closed at 68.82 against the greenback, down by 10 paise.
Around 10 am on Wednesday, the domestic currency was trading at 68.83 against the US dollar, Bloomberg data showed. Provisional data from the stock exchanges showed that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 20.73 crore on Tuesday and Rs 569.91 crore on Monday. In contrast, the domestic institutional investors purchased stocks worth Rs 293.96 crore. Meanwhile, the Sensex fell almost 70 points to a low of 36,169.70 points during early morning trade on Wednesday.
“Today USDINR is likely to remain in the range of 68.58 (stretched 68.41) to 69.02 (stretched 69.26). And another bout of Trade Tariffs from the U.S. on China imports – this time it says it would charge 10% tariffs on an additional USD 200bn worth of Chinese imports. This yet again severed the global market moments, with Asian markets, i.e. Nikkei and HangSeng both down by 293 and 450 points respectively, barring DOW which closed up 143 points as it was pre-tariff news,” Portia Advisory Services LLP said in a note.
“Overall, Indian domestic markets would follow the global counterparts, as seen in SGX Nifty Fut which is down by 38 points and USDINR NDF is at 68.76 (compared to yesterdays close of 68.81). Brent Crude is presently at $78.08 per barrel. India’s CPI (Jun) and IIP (May) YoY data will be released tomorrow (after market hours) – both expected to rise,” the note added.
