Overview
- The currency ended Friday at 90.18 per US dollar after opening at 89.88 and swinging between 89.88 and 90.25.
- Brent crude climbed to about $62.5 a barrel and the dollar index hovered near 99, pressuring the rupee alongside risk-off sentiment.
- Foreign institutional investors sold Indian equities by Rs 3,769 crore on Friday, extending this week’s outflows and weighing on the currency.
- Market participants reported the RBI selling dollars around 90.22–90.23 this week to curb one-way moves, with support again cited near 90.20.
- India’s forex reserves fell by $9.81 billion to $686.80 billion in the week to January 2, and analysts flagged tariff-related uncertainty in the US that could sway trading next week, with USD/INR seen near a 89.90–90.60 band.