An attendant at a fuel station arranges Indian rupee notes in Kolkata, India, August 16, 2018. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
MUMBAI, Aug 9 (Reuters) – The Indian rupee ended flat on Wednesday due to limited risk appetite as traders awaited cues from two key events on Thursday – the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monetary policy decision and consumer inflation print in the United States.
The rupee ended at 82.8150 at close, little-changed from 82.8275 in the previous session. The local currency has hovered in a range between 81.50 and 83.00 against the U.S. dollar since February.
Participants aren’t taking positions in the market due to an absence of directional cues, a foreign exchange trader at a state-run bank said.
While the Indian central bank is widely expected to hold benchmark rates steady, the degree of hawkishness in its commentary is expected to provide cues for the local currency.
If there is further clarity on when the U.S. might cut rates, debt flows are likely to return and lead to some strength in the rupee, the trader said.
“While we continue to play for 82.90, dips to 82.65 may be expected,” said Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
In the near-term, James said he is optimistic about the local currency breaking out of its prevailing range and possibly moving beyond 83 levels given the long phase of consolidation it has seen.
The rupee’s Asian peers fared relatively better against the dollar with the Indonesian Rupiah and the Thai Baht both strengthening 0.16% against the dollar.
Reporting by Jaspreet Kalra; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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