The Indian rupee strengthened for the ninth consecutive session on Monday, buoyed by a revival in foreign inflows and declining crude oil prices. The domestic currency opened 4 paise higher at 85.94 against the US dollar, following a close of 85.98 , according to Bloomberg data. This marks the rupee's best winning streak since January 2024, with an appreciation of 1.83% in March, largely influenced by a falling dollar index.

Analysts note that the rupee has decisively broken below the 86.00 mark, with potential support at 85.80 in the near term. Amit Pabari, managing director at CR Forex Advisors, cautioned that ongoing liquidity deficits and interventions by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to bolster forex reserves could push the rupee back towards levels of 86.50 to 86.60. He suggested that any uptick might present selling opportunities for traders, while favorable market conditions could drive the rupee towards 85.50.

The foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Rs 7,470 crore in Indian equities, although global funds have withdrawn Rs1.44 trillion from domestic stocks this year. As the month and quarter end approaches, demand for the dollar-rupee pair may increase as the RBI looks to square its positions. Anil Kumar Bhansali from Finrex Treasury Advisors anticipates that the rupee, which gained about 1.2% last week, will consolidate its gains, with an expected trading range of 85.80 to 86.30. Meanwhile, the dollar index rose slightly to 104.109, having decreased by 3.26% in March, the largest drop since November 2022.