INR STAYS BOUNDED IN NARROW RANGE; GEO-POLITICAL TENSIONS DENT SENTIMENT

Published on Oct 16, 2023 17:40

The Indian rupee continued to stay range bound against the dollar on Monday with little change at closing. Rupee settled for the day higher by 2 paise at 83.28 (provisional) against the US dollar. Positive cues from improving macroeconomic data on the domestic front were offset by geopolitical tensions, particularly the Israel-Hamas conflict that dented investor sentiments. Local equities also turned bearish amid weak sentiments guided by geopolitical tensions. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.25 against the US dollar and moved in a range of 83.24 to 83.28 during the day. The annual rate of inflation based on all India Wholesale Price Index (WPI) number is(-) 0.26%(Provisional) for the month of September, 2023(over September, 2022) against (-) 0.52% recorded in August, 2023. Deflation in September, 2023 is primarily due to fall in prices of chemical & chemical products, mineral oils, textiles, basic metals and food products as compared to the corresponding month of previous year. The month-over-month change in WPI for the month of September, 2023 stood at (-) 0.59% as compared to August, 2023. On the NSE futures too, USDINR pair saw choppy moves and ended lower by 0.03% at 83.29.