Indian Rupee Ends Lower At 77.42 Per Dollar Today

The Indian rupee ended 19 paise lower at 77.42 per dollar on Thursday versus Wednesday's close of 77.23 According to the Currency Desk of Emkay Global Financial Services, the Rupee continued to depreciate against the U.S Dollar and hit levels of 77.63 today after the greenback surged to hit multi-year highs of $104.43 post the U.S inflation data. Although, inflation took a slight breather last month, the CPI data came in at 8.30% lower than the previous number of 8.50% recorded in March.

"For April alone, prices increased by 0.30% which was less than the 1.20% jump seen in March. Without food and energy prices, core inflation rose 0.60%. U.S president Joe Biden said, inflation still is "unacceptably high" and he remains confident that the U.S Federal Reserve will do its Job on inflation. Federal reserve member speaking post the inflation data said that he would support moving rates if inflation persists while backing the 50Bps rate hikes in the coming meetings until rates hit neutral level. Hawkish comments from Federal reserve members heading into its June meeting will trigger further upside in the U.S. Dollar. Global markets sentiments have already been hit by lockdowns in China which is hurting growth and the prolonged war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, in the domestic markets, reports suggested that the RBI may take repo rate to 5.15% only by August while adding that the central bank is unlikely to undertake short-term measures like OMO's at this point in time. We reiterate that any major Rupee appreciation will be seen only below 77 levels. The currency can hit levels of 78/78.25 levels until then," the desk of Emkay Global has said.