The Rupee opened stronger on Friday on expectations of central bank support, which are likely to counter tepid Asian cues and continued portfolio outflows, traders said. The currency slipped in the last session despite another bout of intervention by the Reserve Bank of India. While it climbed to near 89.75 following RBI's dollar sales, the rally quickly fizzled, echoing a similar lack of follow-through after Wednesday's intervention. Explaining Friday's higher opening, he said the dollar/rupee slipped quickly toward 89.90 after market hours, which was expected to influence how the currency opens. On the U.S.-India trade deal, President Donald Trump recently warned of higher tariffs on New Delhi over its purchases of Russian oil and has backed a bill to sanction China and India over those imports. Bankers said the latter is currently seen a less immediate risk. Meanwhile, Asian cues have been broadly unsupportive of the rupee this week. Regional currencies were mostly lower on the day, extending losses before a key U.S. jobs report that is expected to shed light on the labour market and the Federal Reserve's policy path. Economists polled by Reuters expect US non-farm payrolls to rise by 60,000 and see the unemployment rate at 4.5%. The U.S. dollar advanced at the start of the Asian session on Friday, as traders awaited the release of the latest U.S. jobs report and braced for a forthcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision on President Donald Trump's use of emergency tariff powers. The dollar index , which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was up 0.2% at 98.883, rising for a third consecutive day. The looming U.S. non-farm payrolls report for December will dispel much of the data fog that persisted during the government shutdown, but analysts said nuances in the data may do little to clarify the path forward for interest rates. Against the yen , the dollar was at 156.885 yen, little changed after data showed Japanese household spending unexpectedly grew in November from the year-earlier month, indicating that consumption accelerated before the Bank of Japan lifted its policy rate to a 30-year high in December. Governor Kazuo Ueda has said the BOJ would continue to raise borrowing costs if economic and price developments move in line with its forecasts. Against the Chinese yuan trading offshore in Hong Kong , the dollar was flat at 6.982 yuan as markets looked to the release of inflation data for December due in a few hours. Most other global currencies were little changed in early Asian trade. The euro was steady at $1.1657 ahead of the release of German trade data and retail sales figures for the euro zone due later today. The British pound edged 0.1% lower to $1.3436, the Australian dollar was flat at $0.6698, and the New Zealand dollar ticked down 0.1% to $0.5749. Oil prices rose for a second day on Friday, set for their third weekly gain, on uncertainty about the future of supply from Venezuela and as Iranian unrest increases concerns about output there. Brent futures rose 44 cents, or 0.71%, to $62.43 per barrel at 0203 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 39 cents, or 0.68%, to $58.15.......
More