"A breakout above 82.50 amid speculative buying can drive the USD/INR pair towards 83.00 levels," said Amit Pabari, managing director at CR Forex Advisors, adding that their overall bias remained for an upwards move. The concerns over the demise of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) eased, with the Wall Street rallying overnight to snap a three-day losing run. Asian shares and currencies also rose. The risk appetite was helped by U.S. inflation data, which was in line with expectations.
The U.S. consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.4% month-on-month in February after accelerating 0.5% in January. In the 12 months through February, the CPI increased 6.0%, compared with 6.4% in January. The data increased the odds of a small-sized interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve next week. A few economists, including those at Goldman Sachs, had called for a pause in the wake of the SVB crisis.
Following the data, futures priced in a near-80% chance of a 25 basis-point rate hike. Meanwhile, India's February trade data likely to be released later in the day would be closely watched.
(Reporting by Anushka Trivedi; editing by Eileen Soreng)
anushka.trivedi.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))