Dollar/rupee closed at Rs 69.15/$1 Wednesday against its opening of Rs 69.40/$1. Dollar/rupee traded and ends lower Wednesday on likely FII Inflow into local stocks and ahead of F&O expiry.
Dollar tracking a strong greenback after Fed Chair curbed expectation of aggressive rate cut, while higher crude oil prices further supported dollar demand.Oil is trading up and dollar is strong as Fed chair curbed hopes of a potential rate cut.
Crude oil prices edged higher as supply constraints resurfaces on expectation of a declining US crude stocks.The data on US crude stocks released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), an agency of the US Department of Energy, is due on Wednesday.Brent futures for August delivery traded 1.11% higher at $65.77 a barrel on Wednesday.
Adding to that, the dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, traded higher at 96.24 late Wednesday compared to 96.02 at close of Indian market on Tuesday.Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Tuesday stressed the central bank's independence from US President Donald Trump, who is pushing for aggressive rate cuts.
Fed Chair Powell said the US central bank is assessing whether current economic uncertainties call for lower rates.Powell noted the Fed will take a wait-and-see approach given how rapid recent economic changes have been, but added the Fed is "insulated from short-term political interests."While this hosed down expectations for a half percentage point cut at the Fed's July meeting, investors are still expecting at least a quarter percentage point reduction.
Sensex provisionally ends 132 points higher with 19 components in the green.