The Rupee open stronger on Friday, boosted by the dollar's biggest slide in three months ?and a modest pullback in oil prices, while the expectation ?of continued intervention from the central bank keeps it supported. The currency, up 0.9% this week, ?is headed for its best showing in four months, helped ?by persistent intervention from the Reserve Bank of India. The central ?bank intervened aggressively last Friday and has kept up the support since ?then. The RBI has made it clear through repeated intervention that it does not want significant rupee weakness from current levels, bankers said. A trader at a private-sector bank pointed ?to the RBI's dollar sales around the 95.75 level on Thursday ?as a clear indication of its intent to resist further depreciation. The rupee has outperformed ?other ?oil-sensitive Asian currencies this week, including the Indonesian rupiah and the Philippine peso, largely due to the RBI's intervention.While the intervention has bolstered the near-term outlook, further gains may stay capped unless oil-price risks diminish, ?a trader at ?a private-sector bank ?said. Oil prices have been volatile amid renewed tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Crude prices extended losses in ?Asian trading as investors assessed plans for a ?Saudi Arabia-led ?maritime coalition aimed at strengthening security cooperation in the Red Sea. The rupee is likely to benefit from a weaker dollar, with the U.S. ?currency pressured ?by suspected yen-supporting intervention and a steeper ?Treasury yield curve after comments from Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh stoked concerns over the ?Fed's commitment to tackling inflation. The Japanese yen stayed under pressure on Friday after ?the Bank of Japan kept rates unchanged as markets tested Tokyo's resolve in the wake of a ?coordinated intervention to prop up the fragile currency. The dollar extended gains, to trade up 0.81% at 160.760 yen , after the previous session's dive of 2.4% for its biggest single-day drop since January 2023. Speculators ?have amassed large bearish bets on the yen, with weekly data from a U.S. regulator showing net short positions worth $11.65 billion, near the highest in two years. That put the dollar on the defensive. The U.S. dollar index , which tracks the currency against six major peers, was a touch higher at 100.12 after the previous session's ?fall of 0.8%. It ?was heading for a weekly drop of 1.3% and a loss of 1% for ?the month. The euro stood at $1.1517 , down 0.08% so far in Asia, after the previous session's six-week high. Sterling was flat at $1.3460 . The Aussie and Kiwi dollar were down roughly 0.1% at $0.7030 and $0.5871, ?respectively. Oil prices fell on Friday but kept on track for a monthly ?rise of about a fifth, as more supplies flowed through crucial ?maritime chokepoints, despite a lack of major breakthroughs in talks between the United States and Iran. Brent futures fell $1.03, or 1.2%, to $88 a barrel by 0215 GMT, while U.S. ?West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slipped $1.50, or 1.8%, to $82.09 a barrel. On ?a monthly basis, both benchmarks were set to rise about ?20%.......
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