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22 December 2025
Monday
Strongest Rupee Weekly Gain in Months as RBI Swap–OMO Support and Narrower Trade Deficit Offset Softer PMIs.
The rupee’s week looked like a classic comeback story. After briefly slipping past 91 per dollar earlier in the week, it fought back hard and ended around 89.25, its strongest weekly gain in months, roughly 1.5% firmer. This turnaround came because the Reserve Bank of India quietly stepped onto the field, asking state run banks to sell dollars, while steady foreign investment and improving trade numbers helped cushion the blow from a mild fall in Indian stock markets. The positive mood carried into this morning, with the rupee opening near 89.54 and staying comfortably below the key 90 mark, even though the cost of locking in future dollar deals (forward premia) jumped to a three month high as yearend money conditions tightened and companies rushed to hedge their currency risk. Behind the scenes, the RBI had already pumped life into the banking system through a special dollar swap on 16 December—taking in about USD 5.07 billion at a healthy premium, which pushed nearly ₹45,600 crore into the system—along with another roughly ₹50,000 crore of bond purchases to ease the cash crunch.
On the home front, the economic engine is still running, but not quite as fast as before. A key activity gauge, the HSBC Composite PMI, eased from 59.7 to 58.9—still strong, just a bit slower—while the manufacturing index weakened to 55.7, hurt by steep US tariffs on labour heavy exports, and services cooled to 59.1 as new orders grew at a more moderate pace. At the same time, India’s trade health improved: the goods trade deficit shrank to about USD 24.5 billion, the smallest in five months, as exports jumped nearly 19% year on year to a six month high thanks to government support schemes that softened the impact of US tariffs. Imports dipped about 2%, largely because gold buying collapsed by 60% and oil and coal purchases fell, which reduces the amount of foreign currency India needs and therefore helps the rupee. Wholesale inflation moved up but stayed below zero, at about -0.32% versus -1.21% earlier, and minutes from the RBI’s latest meeting showed that the recent interest rate cut was made possible by easing price pressures, with officials hinting they could cut a bit more if growth slows into 2026.
On International front, world’s big central banks set the larger backdrop for the rupee’s story. In the US, weaker numbers—only about 64K new jobs in November, a three month average near 22k unemployment up to 4.6% and core inflation down to around 2.6%, the lowest since early 2021—made traders think the Federal Reserve is more likely to pause rate hikes, which usually takes some strength out of the dollar and gives emerging market currencies, including the rupee, some breathing space. Europe and the UK are on slightly different paths: the European Central Bank left its key rate near 2.0% but still worries about stubborn services inflation; the Bank of England cut rates to about 3.75% as inflation cooled and joblessness rose. Japan moved the other way, lifting rates to roughly 0.75% as business sentiment and wages improved. Meanwhile, oil prices slipped about 1–2% on concerns over weaker Chinese demand, a welcome relief for India’s oil import bill. Put together friendlier global interest rates, falling oil, better trade data and a very active intervention from RBI, suggests that the rupee movement is likely to remain in tight range of 89.40–90.20 in the near term.
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