By Jaspreet Kalra
MUMBAI (Reuters) – The Indian rupee strengthened for the third consecutive session on Monday, helped by dollar sales by exporters and foreign banks, coupled with a broadly softer greenback that hovered near a five-month low against its major peers.
The rupee closed at 86.80 against the U.S. dollar, up 0.2% on the day. The currency rose to a peak of 86.7625, its highest since February 24, before trimming gains.
Other Asian currencies were mostly rangebound, while the dollar index was down 0.2% 103.5, lingering close to a five-month low hit last week.
The rupee was aided by dollar sales by foreign banks and exporters during the session, a trader at a mid-sized private bank said.
Exporters are likely to stay active in the run-up to the end of India’s financial year on March 31, the trader said.
Meanwhile, India’s merchandise trade deficit eased to $14.05 billion in February, data released on Monday showed. The deficit is the lowest since August 2021 and came in well below the $21.65 billion forecast in a Reuters poll.
A broadly weaker dollar has also helped lift the rupee by about 0.8% so far in March, although the local unit has lagged most of its regional peers this month.
Concerns about a slowing U.S. economy amid escalations in trade policies have weighed on the dollar, U.S. bond yields and equities.
The S&P 500 confirmed a correction last week and futures indicated that it is was likely to open in the red on Monday.
The focus on Monday will be on U.S. retail sales data for cues on how consumers are faring in the world’s largest economy.
“Any downside surprise today probably risks weaker equities, lower US interest rates and a weaker dollar,” ING Bank said in a note.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Kalra; Editing by Sonia Cheema)
