Indian rupee steadies as RBI intervenes amid oil price rise and US jobs data

The Indian rupee ended Friday virtually unchanged at 95.2075 per US dollar, marking a modest weekly gain of about 0.2%. The Reserve Bank of India sold dollars, helping to offset pressure from a 0.3% rise in oil prices to $82.7 a barrel, as traders remained cautious ahead of the upcoming US non‑farm payroll report.

State Bank of India has attracted roughly $6 billion in foreign‑currency deposits under a program that aims for $10 billion by the end of September, bolstering the RBI’s capacity to defend the currency. Analysts at ING expect continued dollar weakness, while futures markets price in a modest 30‑basis‑point rate hike by the Federal Reserve through 2026.