CURRENCY OVERVIEW

 The Rupee opened stronger on Friday, benefiting from a broadly weaker dollar that was weighed down by positional adjustments as traders recalibrated their expectations about U.S. President Donald Trump's policies. The dollar index declined to a more-than-two-month-low of 106.3 on Thursday and was last quoted a tad higher in Asia trading. The offshore Chinese yuan rose to a peak of 7.23, its highest level since late November, before trimming gains. U.S. President Donald Trump's remark about a possible trade deal with China and a dip in U.S. bond yields have both weighed on the dollar, DBS Bank said in a note. The rupee should benefit from a broadly softer dollar but could face resistance near 86.50, a trader at a mid-sized private bank said. The local currency had climbed to a peak of 86.47 last week, largely on the back of heavy-handed intervention by the Reserve Bank of India. While the prevailing bearish bias on the rupee has eased - as signalled by a reduction in short bets per a Reuters poll - portfolio outflows remain a sore point for the local currency. Overseas investors have sold over $11 billion of local stocks over 2025 so far on a net basis. "If the dollar weakness persists, it may help ease the equity outflows and help out the rupee some more," a second trader at a private bank said. The yen shot to a 2-1/2 month high on Friday on the back of a jump in Japanese inflation, while the dollar was set for a third weekly drop in a row as traders calculated the start of Donald Trump's second term has been mostly bluster on the tariffs front. The yen broke through chart resistance at 150 per dollar overnight and it strengthened as far as 149.285 per dollar in the Asia morning after Japan recorded core inflation running at its fastest pace for 19 months in January. The dollar nursed broad losses as bulls who had built up big long positions in anticipation of a trade war have backed off while Trump equivocates about tariffs. The yen is up 3.6% on the dollar through February so far. Japanese bonds were sold off on Friday and interest rate markets have priced in a 25 basis point rate hike in Japan by September . Sterling touched its highest since mid-December at $1.2674. Oil prices extended gains on Friday, headed for a weekly increase, as falling inventories of U.S. gasoline and distillate raised expectations of solid demand while concerns over supply disruptions in Russia lent support. Brent futures climbed 16 cents, or 0.2%, to $76.64 a barrel by 0123 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude edged up 17 cents, or 0.2%, to $72.65.