Currency Market News: Rupee rallies for seven consecutive sessions, surges by 31 paise to close at 85.67 vs dollar

Rupee rose for the seventh consecutive session, appreciating by 31 paise to settle at 85.67 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday, recovering all its losses for 2025. This positive movement was driven by a strong performance in domestic equity markets and fresh foreign capital inflows. Additionally, lower global crude prices and the continued weakness of the dollar helped boost sentiment.

Despite this, traders pointed out that challenges such as liquidity constraints and potential reciprocal tariff implementations continue to pose risks for the local currency.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 85.93, reached an intraday high of 85.49, and a low of 86.01 against the dollar. The rupee ended the session at 85.67 (provisional), gaining 31 paise from its previous closing level. On Friday, the rupee had appreciated by 38 paise, closing at 85.98.

This marks the seventh consecutive session of gains for the rupee, which has added a total of 154 paise during this period, fully recovering the losses it incurred at the start of 2025. On December 31, 2024, the rupee had closed at 85.64.

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Jateen Trivedi, VP Research Analyst at LKP Securities, noted, "The rupee traded positive, driven by strong FII buying over the last few days, which has reversed the fund flow impact on the rupee. The rupee strengthened past 85.70 as the dollar struggled to stay above 104 dollars. Additionally, expectations of Russia-Ukraine truce talks have kept market liquidity active, further supporting the rupee's momentum. If the dollar remains below 104 and FII inflows continue, the rupee could inch towards the 85.00 zone this week. The next resistance levels are at 85.10-85.25, while support is seen at 85.85-86.00."

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was down by 0.09 per cent at 103.99. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose by 0.54 per cent to USD 72.55 per barrel in futures trading.

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Stock Market Summary: Sensex jumps 1,078 points, Nifty up 308 points

Indian equities saw broad-based buying, with the broader markets continuing their upward trend for the sixth consecutive day. At the close, the Nifty ended above 23,650 at 23,658.35, up by 1.32 per cent or 308 points, while the 30-share Sensex surged 1.4 per cent or 1,078.87 points to 77,984.38. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased equities worth Rs 7,470.36 crore on a net basis on Friday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the country's forex reserves rose by USD 305 million to USD 654.271 billion during the week ended March 14, according to the Reserve Bank of India. In the previous week, overall reserves increased by USD 15.267 billion to USD 653.966 billion, marking the largest weekly rise in two years. This rise was partly attributed to a USD 10 billion forex swap conducted by the RBI.

The Indian equity market has experienced a reduction in selling pressure from foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), with outflows narrowing to Rs 1,794 crore (USD 194 million) last week, driven by easing global concerns and growing optimism surrounding a potential de-escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

(With PTI Inputs)