The rupee traded early on Thursday in a range-bound as a strong dollar and worries over a hawkish U.S. Federal Reserve outweighed gains in domestic markets. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee touched 79.47 in initial deals after starting at 79.53 against the dollar, gaining 5 paise from its previous close. The rupee lost 35 paise on Wednesday to end the day at 79.52 against the U.S.dollar.
The dollar index, which measures how strong the dollar is relative to a basket of six different currencies, increased 0.06 percent to 109.72. The benchmark for world oil, Brent crude futures, decreased 0.11 percent to $94 a barrel.
“The rupee won’t appreciate much versus the dollar because Asian currencies are still on the weaker side relative to the USD. As the market prepares for a 75 basis point rate hike by the FED, the range for the day is anticipated to be between 79.30 to 79.80 “according to Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury at Finrex Treasury Advisors.
Even though export data were also marginally revised upward, India’s trade imbalance widened. The country’s focus continues to be the trade deficit, according to Bhansali. The trade imbalance more than doubled to $27.98 billion in August as a result of higher crude oil imports, according to figures released on Wednesday by the commerce ministry. India’s exports climbed marginally, by 1.62 percent, to $33.92 billion. The updated statistics revealed that imports increased by 37.28% to $61.9 billion in August of this year.
