The Indian rupee strengthened marginally versus the US dollar on Friday and closed at 83.89/$1, due to mild corporate inflows into the domestic market.
The local currency was stronger by 6 paisa, ending at 83.89 versus the US dollar, as against its previous close of 83.95/$1, LSEG data showed.
The rupee touched a high of 83.85/$1 during the day’s’ trading session but gave up its gains as dollars were absorbed by local corporates, traders said.
“Some corporates or the Reserve Bank may have absorbed dollars because of month end demand. However, since the inflows were very mild, I do not think the RBI must have intervened in a big way”, said Dilip Parmar, foreign exchange research analyst at HDFC Securities.
Markets now will be focusing on comments by the Federal Reserves’ chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole Symposium later today. As of now, the odds of a 50 basis point rate cut by the Fed in September is 24%, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
The dollar index rose marginally to 101.4, from 101.2 on Thursday, according to Reuters but has still registered losses of about 1% this week, heading for its fifth consecutive losing week.
