The Rupee opened sharply stronger on Thursday as the greenback weakened after US Federal Reserve officials said the central bank may "skip" a rate hike at its Jun 13-14 meeting. A sharply higher-than-expected GDP figure from India also supported the rupee. Moreover, India's GDP growth rose to 6.1% in Jan-Mar from 4.5% in Oct-Dec mainly on account of growth in industry activity, data released by the National Statistical Office showed. The Indian economy had grown 4.0% in the March quarter of the previous year. The GDP growth in Jan-Mar was way higher than the consensus estimate. Services sector grew 9.5% in 2022-23 compared with 8.8% in 2021-22. Gold rose on Wednesday due to risk-off sentiment ahead of the voting on the US debt ceiling in the Congress, and key jobs data from the US.......
The dollar index rose slightly in early trade today as investors shifted their focus to key jobs data from the US, due for release on Friday. Most Asian equity indices were up in early trade today as the bill to raise the US government's debt limit and cap government spending was passed in the House of Representatives by a wide margin. The bill will now be sent to the Senate, just days before Monday's US default deadline. Oil futures settled lower on Wednesday as weak economic data from China led to fear of a drop in demand from the world's largest oil consumer.......