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)
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