Ella 
The Indian rupee weakened on Wednesday as traders awaited fresh catalysts later in the week. Poor Indian services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data for February put some selling pressure on the Indian rupee. The U.S. ISM Services Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 52.6 in February from 53.4 in January, below expectations of 53.0. The report shows that inflationary pressures in India are declining.
That said, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may maintain a cautious stance on monetary policy, while the Federal Reserve (Fed) may cut policy rates before the RBI does. This in turn provides some support to the Indian Rupee (INR) and may prevent USD/INR upside.
Investors will be closely watching testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday and Thursday, which will provide some hints on the timing of a rate cut. U.S. labor market data will be released on Friday. U.S. nonfarm payrolls are expected to increase by 200,000 jobs in February, with the unemployment rate remaining unchanged at 3.7%
