By Nimesh Vora
MUMBAI (Reuters) – The Indian rupee stayed confined to a narrow trading band on Thursday, supported by modest exporter dollar sales, while weaker Asian peers and lack of major importer demand kept it largely directionless.
The local unit opened marginally higher and extended its advance briefly before running into resistance at 85.80. It was last quoted at 85.8525 at 11:08 a.m. IST, up 0.1% from Wednesday.
The rupee’s confinement mirrors its behaviour throughout the week, with the currency largely meandering within the 85.70–86 band.
The dollar/rupee pair is stuck in a tight range with “no real impulse to break either way,” said a FX salesperson at a private bank.
“On our side, exporters are more active than importers today. That could shift if we see a dip toward 85.70, considering how the pair has behaved in recent days.”
The rupee’s tight range comes amid a choppy dollar index. The dollar index initially dropped on Wednesday on a report that U.S. President Donald Trump could fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, before bouncing after Trump denied it.
However, he renewed his criticism of the Fed Chair for not cutting rates and confirmed he had discussed Powell’s removal with Republican lawmakers.
“The potential dismissal of Fed Chair Powell, or attempts to undermine the Fed’s independence, could lead to a more severe flare-up in markets,” MUFG Bank said in a note.
Such moves by Trump have introduced a serious downside risk that markets will be watching closely, it said
Meanwhile, U.S. producer prices were unchanged in June, boosting expectations that the Fed will cut interest rates at its September meeting. Despite this, Asian currencies were mostly weaker on the day.
(Reporting by Nimesh Vora; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)
