KEY INDICATORS:
** One-month non-deliverable rupee forward at 81.98;
onshore one-month forward premium at 13 paisa
** USD/INR NSE April futures settled on Thursday at 81.99
** USD/INR April forward premium at 7.25 paisa
** Dollar index up at 102.16
** Brent crude futures at $85.1 per barrel
** Ten-year U.S. note yield at 3.38%
** SGX Nifty nearest-month futures little changed at
17,708
** As per NSDL data, foreign investors bought a net $100.1mln
worth of Indian shares on Apr. 5
** NSDL data shows foreign investors sold a net $138.4mln worth
of Indian bonds on Apr. 5
(Reporting by Nimesh Vora; Editing by Varun H K)
MUMBAI, April 10 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee may open
largely unchanged or slightly higher to the U.S. dollar on
Monday, amid positive momentum from last week and data that
boosted chances that the U.S. Federal Reserve may hike rates at
its next meeting.
Non-deliverable forwards indicate rupee will open
at around 81.84-81.88 to the dollar, compared with 81.8850 in
previous session.
Rupee is on a three-week winning run, helped by foreign
equity inflows and speculative positions, according to traders.
It was the first time in two months that it has managed a weekly
close of above 82.
"U.S. jobs has helped arrest the dollar's slide, but then
there will be few buyers (of USD/INR) at least at open, based on
rupee's near-term trend," a trader at a private sector bank
said.
Odds that the Fed will raise rates by 25 basis points at its
May meeting climbed to near 70% on the back of data that showed
that hiring by U.S. employers remained robust, pushing the
unemployment rate back down to 3.5%. Further, annual wage growth
slowed but remained too high to be consistent with Fed's
inflation target.
"The labor market remains tight and combined with our
expectation for a 0.39% month-on-month increase in core CPI
(consumer price index), we continue to expect the Fed to deliver
25bp at the May meeting," Morgan Stanley said in a note.
The U.S. inflation data is due this Wednesday. Economists
polled by Reuters expect a 0.3% month-on-month increase in the
CPI and a 0.4% rise in core CPI.
U.S. yields rose, with the 2-year yield now at 3.96%, and
the dollar recovered against its major peers. Risk appetite has
held up well to the increased chances of another Fed rate hike.
U.S. equity futures were a tad up to begin the week and
Asian equities were mostly higher.
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