MUMBAI: The Indian rupee strengthened sharply on Wednesday, helped along by foreign portfolio inflows linked to Jio Platforms’ IPO while persistently elevated oil prices kept traders cautious about positioning for further gains in the unit.
The Indian rupee closed up 0.5% at 94.46 against the dollar after touching a peak of 94.43 earlier in the day, its strongest level since early September.
It trimmed gains in the latter half of the session as oil prices rose and local stocks fell. Brent crude oil futures were last up 1.3% at over $110 per barrel while India’s benchmark equity index, the Nifty 50, declined 0.7%.
Escalating Middle East tensions fuelled fears of supply disruptions, lifting oil prices after Iran told Pakistan’s army chief there would be no talks with Washington until its demands were met.
“Volatility in oil will keep rupee a little on the defensive but sharp falls are unlikely in the near term,” a trader at a state-run lender said.
Despite the global headwinds, inflows linked to Jio Platforms’ $3.2 billion IPO aided the rupee. The IPO was fully subscribed in less than two hours of public bidding on Wednesday as investors flocked to India’s largest share sale.
India’s Jio IPO opens for public bids in record $3.2 billion sale
“With USD/INR holding below 95.00, focus shifts to 94.80–94.70. A sustained break below 94.80 could open the way towards 94.00 over the coming weeks, keeping the near-term outlook favourable for the rupee,” said Amit Pabari, managing director at FX advisory firm CR Forex.
Elsewhere, Asian currencies were mostly rangebound and the dollar index was little changed at 101.8.
Focus will now turn to the release of the minutes of the RBI’s latest monetary policy review held earlier this month. The central bank had delivered its first rate hike in four years on October 7 and signalled more were likely to come.
Data released last week showed that India’s retail inflation accelerated to a higher-than-expected 5.54% in September.
Swap markets are currently pricing in over 100 bps of rate hikes by the RBI over the next 12 months.