• USD/INR rebounds for the second straight day on Friday, despite DXY’s weakness.
• Despite the bounce, the pair is in a bearish consolidation phase.
• Has the spot found a near-term bottom near the 73.75 area?

USD/INR is looking to build onto its previous rebound from near four-month troughs of 73.73, as bulls yearn for acceptance above the 74.00 mark.

The ongoing weakness in the US dollar fails to have any impact on the pair’s recovery, as the sentiment around the Indian rupee deteriorated amid the surging coronavirus case in the world’s second-largest populous country.

India reports a 264,202 daily rise in coronavirus infections this Friday, the highest since May 20, against 247,147 reported on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the minor correction in oil prices is also ignored by INR bulls, as the road to recovery extends ahead of the US Retail Sales release.

At the time of writing, the spot is trading close to the daily lows of 74.00, eyeing a sustained move above the latter.

Bulls will then see a fresh upswing towards the horizontal 200-Daily Moving Average (DMA) at 74.28, above which the 100-DMA at 74.53 will get tested.  

Further up, the January high of 74.69 will be on buyers’ radars.

USD/INR: Daily chart

The 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI), however, remains below the midline while recovering from the oversold territory, suggesting that the bearish bias remains intact in the near term.

The immediate cushion is seen at the November 9 lows of 73.85. The four-month lows will be back in the spotlight if the latter caves into the bearish pressures.

USD/INR: Additional levels