The Indian rupee lost ground on Monday against the dollar, bucking the trend among Asian peers, as local shares continued to reel with foreign investors turning sellers amid disappointment over the lack of specifics in the federal budget. Caution also prevailed ahead of June consumer inflation data, which was out after market close. The figure stood at 7.31 percent, below a Reuters poll estimate of 7.95 percent.
Data earlier showed the wholesale price index (WPI) easing to a four-month low of 5.43 percent as largely expected. Investors were also waiting for Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's congressional testimony due later on Monday, especially since it comes on the back of an improvement in US data in the second quarter.
"I continue to be a dollar bull, as technicals indicate the pair may not breach the 59.85-60.45 range in the immediate term. Then there is the dollar demand arising from various quarters," said Navin Raghuvanshi, a currency trader at DCB Bank in Mumbai. The partially convertible rupee ended at 60.07/08 per dollar compared with 59.93/94 on Friday. In the offshore non-deliverable forwards, the one-month contract was at 60.34, while the three-month was at 60.87.
Comments
Comments are closed.