MUMBAI: The Indian rupee rose for the fifth straight session on Friday, helped by gains in Asian peers and likely portfolio inflows, after the US Federal Reserve kicked off its interest rate cutting cycle earlier this week.
The rupee closed at 83.5625 against the US dollar, up from its close at 83.68 in the previous session. The Indian currency jumped to an more than two-month high of 83.4850 earlier in the session and gained nearly 0.4% week-on-week, its strongest weekly rise this year.
The Fed’s larger-than-usual 50-basis-point rate cut on Wednesday, and inflows into local stocks and bonds have lifted the rupee, traders said.
Overseas investors have net bought more than $7 billion of Indian debt and equities so far in September, the highest monthly inflow since December 2023.
Benchmark Indian equity indices, the BSE Sensex and the Nifty 50, rose to record highs on Friday and ended the day up about 1.5% each. Inflows were “quite strong” but the rupee gave up some gains after dollar bids from state-run banks picked up, a trader at a foreign bank said.
Comments