Rupee trades in a narrow range against greenback as investors stay cautious ahead of Fed meet

21 Jan 2022 , 12:19 PM

At the interbank forex market, the Indian Rupee traded in a narrrow range as domestic equities extended their selling spree and investors also fret over Federal Reserve’s policy statement next week.

In the early tradce, rupee stood near 74.46 per dollar against its previous closing of 74.50 per dollar. 

The US currency against six major rival currencies inched up to 95.84 on Friday against 95.50 points in its previous session and last stood at 95.69 points.

The US Federal Reserve will review its next policy statement on January 26, leaving investors perturbed about global market performance. Recently, the Fed Reserve has signaled triple rate hikes of 25 basis points each in fiscal 2022, amidst US central bank’s outlook to tackle surging inflation.

While anticipation of a crucial statement by the Fed next week kept investors on the edge, lower crude oil prices held investors back.

Last week, crude oil prices hit a seven-year high leaving investors disgruntled amidst the new covid variant Omicron strains.

Brent Crude is currently seen at $87.72 per barrel. In its last session, the global benchmark touched $89.13/barrel, the highest-ever price since October 2014. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures shed 96 cents, or 1.1 percent, and stood at $86 per barrel.

RBI has not yet given any concrete signs of moving to a stringent policy, investors jittery will continue over the Fed’s statement next week.