By Jaspreet Kalra
MUMBAI(Reuters) – The Indian rupee weakened slightly on Wednesday, along with its regional peers, as the dollar firmed on the back of fresh tariff threats from the United States, including a 50% levy on copper imports and 10% charge on BRICS nations.
The rupee was at 85.8375 against the U.S. dollar as of noon IST, down about 0.2% on the day.
Asian currencies were down between 0.1% and 0.3% with the offshore Chinese yuan hovering near a two-week low. The dollar index nudged higher in Asia trading and was last quoted at 97.6.
U.S. President Donald Trump said overnight he would impose a 50% tariff on imported copper, introduce levies on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, and a 10% tariff on BRICS imports would come “pretty soon”.
The threats come as countries step up efforts to strike deals with the White House ahead of an August 1 deadline when steep country-specific levies are slated to go into effect.
Despite the lingering uncertainty, market reaction to the tariff statements has become more subdued compared to earlier in the year as traders buy into the idea of the threats being a negotiation tactic.
“Markets have not only grown somewhat immune to the tariff noise, but participants are also happy to buy into the idea that Trump is bluffing,” Michael Brown, senior research strategist at FX brokerage Pepperstone said in a note.
Regional equity markets were trading mixed with India’s benchmark indices, the BSE Sensex and Nifty 50, were little changed on the day.
The release of minutes of the Federal Reserve’s June policy meeting will be in focus later in the day for cues on the future path of U.S. policy rates amid inflation uncertainty sparked by tariff policies.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Kalra; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
