The India rupee’s near-term futures may directly be influenced by the RBI’s intent on preventing any further depreciation in the currency
Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the indices with a 92 points gain. The Nifty futures were trading at 14,432 on the Singaporean Exchange. In a bid to boost the economy grappling with the fresh COVID-19 wave, India’s Finance Ministry has relaxed the spending guidelines to enable ministries and departments to undertake capital expenditure totalling Rs 44,000 crore envisaged in the budget for 2021-22.
The Sensex was up 230.55 points or 0.48 percent at 48109.00, and the Nifty was up 102.80 points or 0.72 percent at 14444.20.
According to an office memorandum issued by the Finance Ministry on Thursday, the monthly/quarterly expenditure plan (MEP/QEP) ceilings and restrictions will not apply for expenditure under the capital heads under the budget.
The rupee’s near-term futures may directly be influenced by the Reserve Bank of India’s intent on preventing any further depreciation in the currency as the surge in COVID-19 cases hits jobs and growth, economists and traders said.
The INR is likely to trade with a depreciating bias on the back of a strong dollar, relatively weak EM currencies, muted EM inflows and rising COVID-19 cases in India, said Sameer Narag, chief economist at state-run Bank of Baroda.
Elsewhere in Asia, stocks rose on Monday with Chinese shares near three-week highs as signs the world economic recovery was well on track bolstered risk appetite, while the U.S. dollar tumbled to a two-month low.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.3% to surpass critical resistance of 700 points and hit its highest since March 18.
The index has had a strong run lately as it clocked its second consecutive weekly rise on Friday and was on track for another month of gains. Since April 2020, the index has offered positive returns in all but three months.
Chinese shares were firm with the blue-chip CSI 300 index up 0.4 percent to its highest since April 6.
South Korea’s KOSPI index added 0.4 percent while New Zealand shares gained 0.6 percent.
Japan’s Nikkei reversed early losses to be up 0.1percent while Australia’s benchmark share index was off a touch with a public holiday in five of the country’s eight states and territories.
