Indian rupee edges lower against UAE dirham, tracking fall in Asian peers

Indian rupee edges lower against UAE dirham, tracking fall in Asian peers

The Indian rupee weakened slightly on Wednesday tracking its Asian peers lower as paring of rate cut bets in the United States and risk sentiment helped the dollar climb to its highest level in more than a month. The rupee was at 83.1050 (Dh22.64) against the US dollar as of 10:25 a.m. IST, down by 0.04%, compared with its previous close at 83.07. The dollar index was at 103.42, close to its highest level since Dec. 13, after having risen 0.67% on Tuesday. Asian currencies were mostly down between 0.2% to 1%. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller on Tuesday said that while the U.S. is "within striking distance" of the Fed's 2% inflation goal, the central bank should not rush to cut its benchmark interest rates. "The worst thing we'd have is it all reverses after we've already started to cut. We really want to see evidence that this progress ... in the real data and the inflation data continues," Waller said. The comments helped drive up U.S. bond yields and prompted a paring of aggressive Fed rate cut expectations. Investors are now pricing in a 65% chance of a rate cut in March, down from about 81% as of