Rupee to trade in 78.75-80 band for dollar: Kotak Mahindra Bank

Chennai, July 12: The Indian rupee continues to be under pressure against the US dollar and would trade in the range Rs 78.75-80, said Kotak Mahindra Bank in a report.

According to the report, the Indian rupee continues to be weighed down by strengthening greenback continuously benefiting form the safe haven demand and Fed's monetary tightening bias despite the weakening growth outlook.

Further the US 10-year yields regained the three per cent mark while commodities continued to slide lower. Providing some respite to the rupee was the fall in crude oil prices below US$100/bbl (from the week's high of US$114.8/bl) as fears of a potential global recession spurred concerns about oil demand. Further, the rupee got some support as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stepped in with measures to alleviate the dollar tightness.

The tug-of-war of diverging factors led to rupee trading in a narrow range of 78.87-79.38. According to the Kotak Mahindra Bank, given the uncertain and adverse global environment and weak external fundamentals, rupee is expected to continue to trade with a weakening bias. "We expect USD-INR to trade in the 78.75-80 range in the near term," the report said.