MUMBAI: The Indian rupee is likely to open almost flat on Monday, with the turmoil in Russia over the weekend having little impact on Asian risk appetite and the dollar index.
Non-deliverable forwards indicate the rupee will open barely changed compared with its close of 82.0350 on Friday.
The local currency last week was in a range of 81.90 to 82.16. “It’s difficult to see a sizeable move on either side of 82 at the present moment,” a forex trader said.
“The downside (on USD/INR) looks limited in the face of the struggles on most Asian currencies, and there is little appetite to take it higher based on what we saw last week.”
The dollar index was slightly lower in Asia and US equity futures were slightly higher, signalling that investors were not too worried about the news out of Russia.
Heavily armed Russian mercenaries withdrew from the southern Russian city of Rostov under a deal that halted their rapid advance on Moscow but raised questions on Sunday about President Vladimir Putin’s hold on power.
“Markets never got a chance to respond to the unrest in Russia, which came and went in about 36 hours,” ANZ said in a daily note.
Asian currencies were mixed while equities, tracking the decline on US equities on Friday, were mostly lower.
The focus this week will be on the US jobless claims, core PCE and the GDP data.
Indian rupee to nudge higher at open, avoiding losses in Asian peers
The data will show the likelihood of the Federal Reserve following through on its projections of two more rate hikes this year.
The offshore Chinese yuan will be closely watched by Asian FX following its recent slide.
The currency last week slid 1.2%, its worst performance since February.
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