Rupee Opens Weaker Against Dollar For Second Day

The Indian rupee opened 16 paise weaker at 85.75 against the US dollar on Wednesday for the second day, in comparison with its previous close of 85.59 on Tuesday. This slight depreciation comes amid various global and domestic economic factors influencing the currency markets.

Anil Kumar Bhansali, head of treasury and executive director at Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, provided insights into the day's trading range and hedging strategies. According to him, the rupee is expected to trade in a range of 85.35 to 85.85.

"In the near term we could see some more weakness while RBI is watched as to what it does near 85.70 levels, which it has been protecting in the past few days," said Bhansali.

He advised exporters need to hedge near 85.70 to 85.75 and importers to wait for hedging purposes.

Additionally, the US dollar fell down a bit to 99.22, as the market looked ahead to the US employment data for immediate trading cues while waiting for developments in President Trump's tariff negotiations with key trading partners, including China. The dollar which fell on Monday rose on Tuesday after a surprise increase in US job openings.

The euro fell to 1.1377, while the Great Britain Pound was at 1.3524 and the Japanese Yen fell to 143.86. Asian currencies were weaker, with the Chinese Yuan at 7.1870, the Indonesian Rupiah at 16,313 and the South Korean Won at 1,373.

On Wednesday, crude fell after rising for two consecutive sessions with Brent crude—the global benchmark for crude oil—fell 0.18% to $65.51, weighed by loosening supply and demand balance following increasing OPEC+ output and lingering concerns over the global economic outlook due to tariff concerns. Crude was up last week as OPEC+ boosted supply in line with market expectations. "Oil markets struggle to make major gains despite this disruptions," added Bhansali.