HSBC Sees Rupee Weakness as Foreigners Put Brakes on India Flows

Banking Sector Burdened by Increasing Bad LoansGold Silver Reports — The Indian rupee may weaken as global funds start to hit buying limits for the nation’s debt and valuations for equities look expensive, according to HSBC Holdings Plc.

“I won’t be surprised if we drift down to 65-65.25 to the dollar over the next two months,” Pradeep Khanna, HSBC’s head of global markets trading for India in Mumbai, said in an interview. “Equity valuations are stretched in India as company earnings haven’t changed much in the past two years while the market is much higher.”

While the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex index climbed to a record Tuesday, foreign investors have turned net sellers of local shares in July for the first time in three months. The withdrawals come as hawkish comments from major central banks cloud the outlook for flows to emerging markets. Overseas purchases of Indian bonds too have stalled this month.  

“Clearly, a slowdown is expected over there,” Khanna said, noting that global funds, whose access to Indian debt is restricted, have “utilized about 90 percent” of their investment limits. He also cited a seasonal increase in India’s trade deficit among the reasons for the rupee’s potential depreciation.

The Indian currency capped a fourth straight week of declines on Friday. It rallied 5.2 percent in the six months ended June 30, and was at 64.5925 per dollar in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Overseas investors sold a net $269.1 million of Indian stocks this month through July 7, paring inflows for 2017 to $8.2 billion. Their holdings of rupee-denominated government and corporate bonds are little changed from the end of June, after surging 1.2 trillion rupees ($18.6 billion) in the last five months.

The rupee will broadly trade in a range of 64 to 66 per dollar for the rest of the year, Khanna predicts, adding that HSBC remains “constructive” on it from a carry perspective. Borrowing in dollars to purchase rupee assets has earned 7.9 percent in 2017, the highest carry returns in Asia.

Trade deficit:

Khanna said he remains “watchful” on India’s widening trade deficit

“Over the last couple of months, there is a component driven by a spurt in gold demand, which could well be temporary but, to a certain extent, the trade deficit is higher than a couple of years back”

Also, the gap “is going up slowly without any recovery in oil prices. It is something I would think about for the medium term”

Reserve Bank of India’s currency management:

“I would tend to think they would smoothen volatility if there is a huge amount of inflow, or there is large depreciation because of seasonality factors, but on the whole, there seems to be much more comfort with regular market volatility”

“You tend to be more tolerant when you are operating from a position of strength”
NOTE: Forex reserves have jumped to a record $386.5b

Real rates:

“From a more immediate perspective, if inflation turns out to be benign at 3%-3.5%, even with a policy rate of 6%, we have 250-300bps of real rates, which isn’t too common in the world”

“This is very supportive for the currency”

Global monetary policy:

“The extent and the pace of monetary policy normalization undertaken by global central banks will be key”

“Mostly, it will be the ECB that is watched, because the Fed’s likely actions are far more telegraphed” — Neal Bhai Reports

HSBC Sees Rupee Weakness as Foreigners Put Brakes on India Flows | Neal Bhai Reports | Gold Silver Reports

Spread the love

Neal Bhai has been involved in the Bullion and Metals markets since 1998 – he has experience in many areas of the market from researching to trading and has worked in Delhi, India. Mobile No. - 9899900589 and 9582247600

1 thought on “HSBC Sees Rupee Weakness as Foreigners Put Brakes on India Flows”

  1. देश की करोड़ों महिलाओं के लिए जरूरी खबर। पुराने गहने बेचने से लेकर मरम्मत कराना भी महंगा पड़ेगा क्योंकि ये है जीएसटी इफेक्ट।

    दरअसल, अब जीएसटी के तहत पुराने गहने बेचने या मरम्मत कराने पर जीएसटी चुकाना होगा। जीएसटी लागू होने के बाद अब ज्वेलर आपसे रिवर्स चार्ज के तहत 3 फीसदी जीएसटी लेगा यानि 1 लाख के गहने पर 3 हजार जीएसटी लगेगा। लेकिन अगर पूराने गहने के बदले में नए गहने लेते हैं तो टैक्स वापस मिलेगा जबकि पुरानों गहनों की मरम्मत पर 5 फीसदी जीएसटी चुकाना होगा। गहने की मरम्मत सर्विस चार्ज किया जायेगा।

Leave a Comment