INDIA RUPEE-Indian rupee inches up, but recent uptrend seen having run course

By Nimesh Vora MUMBAI, April 28 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee was marginally higher versus the U.S. dollar on Friday amid muted Asian peers, but some traders reckoned the local currency had little room to move up from current levels. The rupee was at 81.75 to the dollar by 10.50 a.m. IST compared with 81.8375 in the previous session. The U.S. Federal Reserve's policy decision and U.S. jobs data are due next week, and that means a "fair bit of risk" for the "mostly docile" rupee, a sales person at a private bank said. "And if you want to discount that, the pair (USD/INR) has excellent support at 81.60 and just below 81.50," he said. "We highly doubt there is merit in holding dollar shorts at current levels." The USD/INR pair ran into bids at 81.60 on Thursday from oil companies, prompting short dollar speculators to reduce the position size, according to traders. Possible intervention by the Reserve Bank of India was anther reason touted that could limit the rupee's appreciation from current levels. The rupee’s unexpected appreciation is a worry for Indian exporters, but RBI may not tolerate a much higher rupee, Amit Pabari, managing director at CR Forex, said. Asian currencies were flat to slightly higher on Friday amid an overnight rally on U.S. equities and rise in U.S. yields. A measure of U.S. inflation rose more than expected, data released overnight showed, cementing expectations of a Fed rate hike next week. Risk appetite was not impacted by the weaker U.S. March quarter GDP print, which alongside the inflation data fuelled worries about stagflation. (Reporting by Nimesh Vora; Editing by Varun H K)