Rupee weakens but dollar demand from importers caps upside

MUMBAI, Aug 11 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee weakened on Friday tracking its Asian peers after U.S. inflation data, which, while lower-than-expected, prompted comments from a Federal Reserve official that more progress is needed to combat inflation.

The rupee was at 82.74 against the dollar by 10:42 a.m., down from 82.7125 on Thursday. The Korean won and Indonesian rupiah were leading losses in Asian currencies, while the Chinese yuan dropped to a one-month low.

The rupee was likely to trade in a range of 82.65 to 82.80 during the day with demand from importers seen around 82.70, a foreign exchange trader at a state-run bank said.

“Any small upside in the rupee is likely to be filled by importers, leading to a day of range-bound trading,” said Arnob Biswas, head of FX research at SMC Global Securities.

Biswas said that 83 continues to be an important psychological level for the rupee.

San Francisco Fed Chief Mary Daly on Thursday said that while recent inflation data is moving in the right direction, more progress is needed on inflation before she feels comfortable that the Fed has done enough.

She was speaking after the U.S. Labor Department reported that underlying consumer price inflation moderated in July.

The rupee is likely to find support from a hawkish Reserve Bank of India, analysts said. The RBI kept the key policy rate unchanged on Thursday, but struck a hawkish note via liquidity withdrawal measures and raised inflation forecasts for the current fiscal year.

“We maintain our call that the RBI is likely to remain on a prolong pause in FY24,” IDFC First Bank economist Gaura Sen Gupta said in a recent note.