The rupee snapped its losing streak and appreciated 20 paise against the US dollar on Tuesday as easing crude oil prices and a weaker dollar improved investor sentiment amid hopes of a pause in hostilities between the US and Iran.Forex traders said the domestic currency also drew support from positive domestic equities, softer US Treasury yields and likely intervention by the Reserve Bank of India.At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 95.47 against the greenback and moved between an intraday high of 95.23 and a low of 95.67 before settling at 95.41, up 20 paise from its previous close.The rupee had declined 43 paise to close at 95.61 against the US dollar on Monday.“We expect the rupee to trade with a negative bias due to uncertainty in the West Asia war. Any fresh escalations in the West Asia war may again lead to a spike in crude oil prices and pressurise the rupee.“However, if the de-escalation remains, we may see some recovery in the rupee. Traders may take cues from ADP weekly employment, trade balance and existing home sales data from the US. USDINR spot price is expected to trade in a range of 95.10 to 95.80,” said Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst at Mirae Asset ShareKhan, PTI quoted.The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.24% lower at 99.80.Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell 2.04% to $92.33 per barrel in futures trade.Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst at HDFC Securities, said the rupee strengthened on improving risk appetite, supported by lower crude prices and a weaker dollar.“Additionally, the resumption of inflows into the debt market, following recent RBI measures, provided further support. In the near term, spot USD-INR faces resistance at 95.80 and support at 94.70, with the short-term bias remaining constructive for the rupee on expectations of continued inflows,” Parmar said.On the domestic equity front, the Sensex rose 394.50 points to close at 73,918.76, while the Nifty gained 119.10 points to end at 23,242.10.Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 4,566.03 crore on a net basis during the session, according to exchange data.The rupee also found support from India’s external sector data released this week. RBI data showed India recorded a current account surplus of $7.1 billion, or 0.7% of GDP, in the January-March quarter of 2025-26, aided by higher services exports and remittances.The surplus stood at $13.7 billion, or 1.4% of GDP, in the corresponding quarter of 2024-25. However, for the full fiscal year 2025-26, the current account deficit stood at $25.2 billion, or 0.6% of GDP, compared with $22.9 billion, or 0.6% of GDP a year earlier.Market participants also tracked geopolitical developments after US President Donald Trump reportedly urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to retaliate against Iran’s latest missile attacks, warning that it could derail ongoing efforts to secure a peace agreement. Trump also urged Iran to return to the negotiating table.
