Rupee falls 4 paise to 95.74 against U.S. dollar in early trade

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The rupee traded in a narrow range and fell 4 paise to 95.74 against the American currency in early trade on Tuesday (August 25, 2026), as elevated crude prices and importer dollar demand weighed on the currency.

Forex traders said the RBI's continued intervention through state-run banks helped prevent a sharper decline, keeping USD/INR in a narrow range despite weakness in Asian equities and renewed geopolitical uncertainty around Iran.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 95.74, registering a fall of 4 paise from its previous close.

On Monday, the rupee settled with a marginal gain of 1 paisa at 95.70 against the U.S. dollar.

"Overall, the rupee remains firmly range-bound around ₹95.50–96.00, with oil prices and RBI intervention likely to remain the key near-term drivers," said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.

The rupee has remained range bound for the last two weeks with oil companies and RBI buying dollars at the lower end while RBI was also protecting the downside to the rupee by selling the dollars near to 95.75 levels, Bhansali added.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading at 99.04, higher by 0.04% on safe-haven demand following the US escalation of sanctions on Iran, although the dollar remains under pressure from expectations around Treasury bond buybacks.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 0.30% at $92.45 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic market front, Sensex fell 30 points to 77,336.32 in early trade, while the wide-based Nifty dipped 38.80 points to 24,179.50.

Foreign institutional investors purchased equities worth Rs 1,181.66 crore on a net basis on Monday, according to exchange data.

On the domestic macroeconomic front, the Reserve Bank of India's special USD-INR forex swap facility for FCNR(B) deposits, Overseas Foreign Currency Borrowings (OFCB) and External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) has mobilised foreign exchange inflows of USD 73 billion as of August 21, 2026, reflecting strong backing from Non-Resident Indians (NRIs).

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