Rupee edged up in early trade on Monday, rising 21 paise from its previous close to 90.44 against the US dollar. The upward momentum comes as upbeat global cues and optimism surrounding the newly announced India–US trade framework helped the domestic unit recover initial losses.The currency had opened weaker at 90.66 in the interbank market before rebounding as sentiment improved following Saturday’s announcement that New Delhi and Washington had finalised a framework for an interim trade agreement. The plan involves lowering import duties on several products to encourage stronger two-way commerce. Apart from the trade front, a softer dollar index and strength in domestic share markets added to the positive undertone. The rupee had ended Friday’s session down 31 paise at 90.65. During that day’s early trading, it had also slipped to 90.70 against the US currency. “RBI continues to act from both sides of the market selling dollar on good upticks thus keeping a tab on the excessive depreciation while it has also kept a tab on the appreciation after the US-India deal was announced and on Saturday the terms of reference were declared buying dollars near to 90.05 levels,” said Anil Kumar Bhansali Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP. In a joint statement, both sides said that India has conveyed its intention to procure $500 billion worth of US energy products, aircraft and aircraft components, precious metals, technology goods and coking coal over a five-year period. In wider markets, the dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major currencies, was marginally lower by 0.05% at 97.58. Brent crude futures were also down, easing 0.94% to $67.41 a barrel. Data from the exchanges showed Foreign Institutional Investors had bought shares worth Rs 1,950.77 crore on Friday. Separately, the Reserve Bank reported a sharp jump in the country’s foreign exchange reserves. The kitty expanded by $14.361 billion to reach a new lifetime high of $723.774 billion in the week ended January 30. In the preceding week, reserves had risen by $8.053 billion to $709.413 billion, crossing the earlier record of $704.89 billion touched in September 2024.
