Indian Rupees Finished The Day at 85.51

The Indian rupee closed at 85.51 on Friday in comparison to its previous closing at 85.5325 on Thursday evening. The Indian Rupee weakened on Friday amid weak domestic equity markets and continued foreign institutional investor (FII) outflows. Increased dollar demand from importers also weighed on the currency. However, a soft US Dollar and falling crude oil prices helped limit the downside. The greenback slipped after weaker-than-expected US economic data, including disappointing PPI and retail sales. Going forward, the Rupee may trade with a slight positive bias, supported by a weaker Dollar index, softer crude, and improved global risk sentiment. However, persistent FII outflows could cap gains. Markets will watch US housing and consumer sentiment data for further direction.

The Nifty was down 48.40 points or 0.19% at 25,013.70, the Sensex was down 200.15 points or 0.24% at 82,330.59. Bharat Electronics, Bajaj Auto, Adani Enterprises, Tata Consumer, Eternal were among biggest gainers on the Nifty, while losers were Bharti Airtel, JSW Steel, Infosys, SBI, HCL Technologies.

Broader markets outperformed benchmarks on Friday, with the BSE Midcap rising 0.8% and Smallcap gaining 1%. This marked the fifth consecutive session of strong gains for mid- and small-cap indices, defying the weakness in frontline indices, which faced mild profit booking after Thursday’s rally. Sectorally, media, power, PSU, realty, and capital goods rose 1–1.7%, while IT declined nearly 1%. The Nifty Smallcap100 surged 9% and the Midcap100 jumped nearly 7% over the past five sessions. Midcaps are steadily closing the gap with large-caps and have outperformed the Nifty 50 this week by the widest margin since late March.