Rupee rises 1 paisa to 90.73 against U.S. dollar in early trade

The rupee rose by 1 paisa to 90.73 against the U.S. dollar in early trade on Tuesday (February 17, 2026), aided by a fall in global crude oil prices.

However, a stronger greenback and FII outflows capped gains in the local unit, according to forex traders.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.72 against the U.S. dollar before slipping to 90.73, up 1 paisa against its previous close.

The rupee settled 8 paise lower at 90.74 against the U.S. dollar on Monday (February 16, 2026).

“The rupee was well offered on Monday (February 16, 2026) though it closed lower. Suspected RBI intervention has prevented the currency to cross 91 so far and has also deterred speculative shorts,” Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.23% higher at 97.14.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.47% lower at $68.33 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, Sensex declined 245.87 points to 83,031.28 in early trade while the Nifty was down 106.45 points to 25,576.30.

On Monday (February 16, 2026), foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth ₹972.13 crore, according to exchange data.

Government data released on Monday (February 16, 2026) showed that wholesale price inflation extended upward momentum for the third straight month, at 1.81 per cent in January, driven by an uptick in prices of food, non-food articles, and manufactured items on a month-on-month basis.

Further, the country’s exports rose marginally by 0.61% to $36.56 billion in January, while trade deficit widened to a three-month high of $34.68 billion, as per official data released on Monday (February 16, 2026).