Indian Rupee Finished The Day at 90.3575

The Indian rupee closed at 90.3575 on Thursday in comparison to its previous closing at 89.9650 on Wednesday. The Indian rupee plunged to an all-time low of 90.46 against the US dollar on December 11, 2025, breaching the previous record of 90.42, driven primarily by lingering uncertainty over the delayed US–India bilateral trade deal and persistent corporate dollar outflows for year-end payments and merchant transactions. Despite a broadly weaker dollar following the US Federal Reserve’s 25-basis-point rate cut and less hawkish guidance, the expected relief for the rupee failed to materialise, with mild RBI intervention only slowing the decline rather than capping it at any specific level. Analysts highlighted additional pressure from potential Mexican tariffs of up to 50% on over 1,400 Indian products starting 2026 and warned that failure to conclude the trade agreement soon could push the currency toward the 92 level, marking its worst annual performance since 2022 amid weak portfolio inflows and elevated US tariffs on Indian exports.

At close, the Sensex was up 426.86 points or 0.51 percent at 84,818.13, and the Nifty was up 140.55 points or 0.55 percent at 25,898.55.

Kotak Mahindra Bank, Eternal, Jio Financial, Tata Steel, Grasim Industries were among major gainers on the Nifty, while losers were Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, SBI Life Insurance, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank.

Indian stock markets staged a relief rally after three straight sessions of losses, with the BSE Sensex closing around 84,730 (+0.4%) and the Nifty 50 settling at 25,881 (+0.5%), buoyed by the US Federal Reserve’s widely anticipated 25 bps rate cut to 3.50–3.75%. The India VIX, the market’s fear gauge, dropped sharply to the 10.5–10.8 zone — near multi-year lows — signalling unusually subdued volatility expectations despite a weakening rupee that hit a fresh record low of 90.47 against the dollar. Broad-based gains were seen across auto, pharma, banking, metals, and realty sectors, while mid-caps and small-caps also participated modestly, though small-caps remain down ~9.5% YTD in a painful correction. With low VIX, a structurally weaker currency, persistent FII outflows, and richly valued pockets, the bounce offered short-term relief but highlighted growing macro risks; brokerages like Kotak Securities still project 13–24% Nifty upside by end-2026 in their base-to-bull cases, emphasising large-cap leadership and the need for disciplined positioning amid historically complacent volatility.