The Indian rupee experienced a boost in early trading today, strengthening past the 90 per dollar mark. This

appreciation follows a period of record lows for the rupee against the US dollar in recent weeks.

Currency traders suggest that likely intervention by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) contributed to the rupee's gain

against the dollar. Market sentiment also found support from crude oil prices hovering around $59 per barrel.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.19 against the US dollar. It then gained further

ground, reaching 89.96 against the dollar, marking a 24 paise increase from its previous closing value. Earlier in the

session, it briefly touched 90.22 against the American currency. On Thursday, the rupee had already shown positive

movement, appreciating by 18 paise to close at 90.20 against the US dollar.

Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director at Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, noted a shift in market

dynamics. "Since the speculators are out of the market, the buying of US dollar syndrome has come down a bit, though

intraday we could see spikes," said Bhansali. He also commented on US CPI data, stating, "The US CPI came lower than

expected but was also due to non-collection of sufficient data, and therefore, the next month’s CPI becomes more

important," adding that "the rupee remains in a range of 90-90.50".

Globally, the dollar index, which measures the dollar's strength against six other major currencies, showed a slight

increase of 0.04%, trading at 98.46. Meanwhile, Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil prices, saw a decrease of

0.27% to $59.66 per barrel in futures trading.

On the domestic stock market front, the 30-share Sensex index rose by 375.98 points to reach 84,857.79. The Nifty also

experienced gains, climbing 110.60 points to 25,934.15. Exchange data indicates that foreign institutional investors

purchased equities worth ₹595.78 crore on Thursday.

Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM), expressed a lack of concern

regarding the rupee's fluctuations. Speaking at 'Times Network's India Economic Conclave 2025', Sanyal stated that even

China and Japan experienced exchange rate weaknesses during their high-growth periods. He added that the RBI typically

intervenes to curb excessive volatility, allowing the rupee to generally find its own level since the 1990s. "I am not

concerned about the rupee at all... Let me say that the rupee and its current weakness should not be necessarily

conflated with some economic worry, because historically, if you go over time, you will see that economies that are in

their high growth phase very often go through a phase of exchange rate weakness," he said.