Softer dollar, modest inflows offer breathing room to Indian rupee

The Indian rupee was little changed on Wednesday, as a broadly softer greenback and dollar sales from foreign banks offered the currency some breathing room north of the psychologically important 91-per-dollar mark.

The rupee was at 90.92 per dollar ‌as of ⁠10:30 a.m. IST, ⁠marginally above Tuesday's close of 90.95.

A string of contract maturities in the non-deliverable forwards market this week is a sore spot for the rupee, having exerted pressure over the last two sessions.


On the day, though, traders pointed to modest dollar inflows and rebound in local stocks, offering the currency some ⁠relief.

India's benchmark ‌equity indexes, the BSE Sensex and Nifty 50, were up about 1% each, led by IT ⁠stocks , which rose more than 2.5% after a steep sell-off in recent sessions.

IT shares carry roughly 11% weightage in the Nifty 50 index, the second-highest.

Shares in Asia were higher too, with MSCI's gauge of regional equities up more than 1.5%, tracking an overnight Wall Street rally on the back of revived enthusiasm that AI would boost ‌profits for businesses.

Meanwhile, the focus was on the takeaways from U.S. President Donald Trump's State of the Union address, during which he briefly ⁠laid out his case for a possible attack on Iran while making little mention of his signature tariff policies that were recently struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Global trade uncertainty is set to remain a medium term structural feature, as the Trump administration pivots toward rebuilding tariff barriers through slower but more legally defensible channels," MUFG said in a note.