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Rupee hits fresh low; slips on crude oil prices (Roundup)
Mumbai, Aug 30 (IANS) High global crude oil prices, along with continuous outflow of foreign funds pulled the Indian rupee to a fresh intra-day and closing low on Thursday.
Analysts pointed out that caution ahead of key macro-economic data, coupled with a rise in demand for US dollars also dragged the rupee lower.
“High crude oil prices have pulled the rupee lower,” Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers’ Research Analyst Rushabh Maru told IANS.
“Most emerging market (EM) currencies were down and this also pressurised the Indian rupee.”
On an intra-day basis, the Indian rupee plunged to 70.85 — the lowest ever mark — against the greenback at the Interbank foreign exchange market. It surpassed the previous record low of 70.65-66 to a greenback made on Wednesday.
It settled at a record closing low of 70.74-75 against the US dollar, weaker 15 by paise from Wednesday’s close of 70.59-60 to a US dollar.
According to Tradebulls’ Director and Chief Operating Officer, Dhruv Desai: “Currently sensitivity of Indian rupee to crude oil prices is very high.”
“In spite of weakening US Dollar since last week, Indian rupee struggled to gain against US dollar as market is pricing in higher current account deficit due to rise in crude prices.”
Apart from high crude oil, outflow of foreign funds from the Indian equity and bond markets has had an adverse impact on the rupee.
Investment-wise, data from the NSDL on Thursday showed that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold scrip worth Rs 1,379.34 crore.
Besides, caution prevailed ahead of the release of India’s GDP and fiscal deficit data. The key macro-economic data points will be released on Friday.
“Rupee needs more support from RBI or some big global positive news. The trend remains weak until some sizeable intervention by RBI verbal or actual. There is a lot of panic buying amongst importers and equity investors as well who want to hedge the currency risk now,” said Sajal Gupta, Head Forex and Rates, Edelweiss Securities.
“Our macros remain robust but panic is the key factor behind current volatility. Everyone is a buyer of dollars in current market.”
The RBI is known to enter the markets via intermediaries to either sell or buy US dollars to keep the rupee in a stable orbit.
–IANS
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International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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