Rupee finds breathing room as oil prices fall; RBI decision awaited
By Jaspreet Kalra
MUMBAI, Oct 9 (Reuters) -The Indian rupee rose slightly on Wednesday, comforted by a decline in oil prices and gains in most of its regional peers, while traders awaited the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy decision.
The rupee INR=IN was at 83.9275 as of 09:30 a.m. IST, compared to its previous close at 83.9625.
The currency has hovered close to its record low of 83.9850 over the past three sessions, but avoided falling below it largely due to the RBI's interventions.
Other Asian currencies were mostly higher, with the Thai baht up 0.6% and leading gains, while the dollar index =USD was little changed at 102.5.
Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 declined 4.5% on Tuesday as news of a possible ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah cooled concerns of a supply disruption. It was last quoted slightly higher at $77.4 per barrel.
Despite the supportive global cues, traders expect the rupee's gains to be shallow given the persistent outflows from local equities. Overseas investors have net sold about $6.5 billion of shares over the last six trading sessions.
Focus for Wednesday's session will be on the RBI's monetary policy decision due at 10:00 a.m. IST.
The central bank is widely expected to keep policy rates unchanged for the tenth straight meeting, while some investors are betting on the probability of a change in stance to neutral.
"There’s a good chance that the central bank may strike a less hawkish tone and change its policy stance to neutral, with a view to eventually cut rates in December," MUFG Bank said in a note.
Remarks from a slew of Federal Reserve policymakers alongside the minutes of the Fed's latest meeting will also be in focus later in the day for cues on the future path of Fed policy rates.
Reporting by Jaspreet Kalra; Editing by Varun H K
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