Indian Rupee gains after a one-day fall; opens 25 paise higher at 85.30/$

Indian Rupee opened higher after a one-day fall as continued weakness in the crude oil prices and the dollar index aided the currency. 

 

The domestic currency began the session 25 paise higher at 85.30 after ending at 85.55 against the greenback on Thursday, according to Bloomberg data. The rupee has depreciated by around 0.44 per cent in the current calendar year (CY26) so far. 

 

The local unit was in a range yesterday, moving between 85.40 and 85.80, and did not rise despite the rise in Asian currencies because of the hangover of a tiff with Pakistan, which could arise at any moment, Anil Kumar Bhansali, head of treasury and executive director at Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said. 

 

The rupee is expected to trade in a narrow band of 85.25 to 85.75, Bhansali said, adding that exporters are likely to sell on upticks and importers are preferring to wait for medium-term hedging opportunities. 

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The dollar index weakness persisted after the US clarified that it is not seeking to weaken the dollar as part of trade deals. The dollar Index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was trading 0.19 per cent lower at 100.68. The index fell as the US 10-year yield fell to 4.42 per cent after downside surprises from US data this week cemented bets that the Federal Reserve will cut rates more than three times this year, Bhansali said.

 

On the domestic front, India’s merchandise trade deficit widened significantly to $26.42 billion in April from $21.5 billion in March, as a 9 per cent year-on-year uptick in exports was outweighed by a far sharper surge in imports. While April’s exports stood at $38.5 billion, imports rose to $64.91 billion, 19.1 per cent higher than a year ago.  

 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) purchased ₹25,000 crore worth of government bonds via open market operation (OMO) auction on Thursday. The central bank received bids worth ₹71,149 crore at the auction.

 

In commodities, crude oil prices were trading with a negative bias after a sharp fall from yesterday, as the US-Iran nuclear deal sparked oversupply concerns. Brent crude price was down 0.03 per cent to $64.51 per barrel, while WTI crude prices were lower by 0.02 per cent at 61.61, as of 9:20 AM.