Indian rupee remains little changed in early trade

Indian rupee

The Indian rupee showed little change in early trade against the US dollar and the dirham, opening at 83.4520 and 22.687 respectively. Across Asia, most currencies dipped, with the Indonesian rupiah leading losses. The dollar index saw a slight increase, while the 10-year US Treasury yield remained steady.

Despite this, Asian shares reached 15-month highs, bolstered by confidence in potential US interest rate cuts. Hong Kong's Hang Seng experienced a minor setback, ending a 10-day winning streak with a 0.9% loss, while markets in Taiwan and South Korea saw gains. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose by 0.3%, and Japan's Nikkei climbed by 1.3%.

Looking ahead, FTSE futures indicated a positive return following a market holiday, with European futures also on the rise by 0.3%. S&P 500 futures remained flat. Last week's softer-than-expected US jobs data and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments suggesting potential rate cuts contributed to the positive market sentiment.

Overall, while currency markets experienced some fluctuations, broader market indices in Asia-Pacific remained strong, buoyed by expectations of accommodative monetary policy from the Federal Reserve.