Overview
- The rupee provisionally settled at 95.35 to the US dollar on Friday, up about 15 paise from the prior close.
- Market participants say the rise was driven by sustained RBI dollar-selling and a reversal in foreign institutional investor flows that saw net purchases of about Rs 3,623.5 crore on Thursday and roughly Rs 7,360 crore over the prior three days.
- Further appreciation was limited by a firmer US dollar, Brent crude trading around USD 88–89 per barrel, and renewed US–Iran missile exchanges that raised regional risk premia.
- Domestic equity markets moved higher alongside the currency, with the Sensex and Nifty showing gains as foreign buying supported sentiment.
- Analysts expect the rupee to trade with a mild positive bias in the near term in a range of about Rs 95.00–95.60 while noting oil prices, geopolitics, and global FX interventions as key risks to that outlook.