The Indian rupee weakened by 5 paise to 94.98 against the U.S. dollar in early trade on Monday (October 26, 2026). The decline was driven by rising crude oil prices and escalating geopolitical tensions in West Asia, which triggered risk aversion in global markets.
Forex traders noted that the rupee opened at 94.92 before slipping to 94.98, marking a 5 paise drop from its previous close. On Friday (October 23, 2026), the rupee had already depreciated by 12 paise to close at 94.93.
Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst at Mirae Asset Sharekhan, attributed the rupee's decline to elevated crude oil prices and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. However, he noted that softness in the U.S. dollar and U.S. treasury yields helped limit further losses. Choudhary expects the rupee to maintain a slight negative bias due to risk aversion and selling pressure by foreign institutional investors (FIIs).
The dollar index, which measures the U.S. dollar's strength against six major currencies, was trading at 101.49, down 0.15%. Meanwhile, Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, surged 1.92% to $114.48 per barrel. On the domestic equity market, the Sensex dropped 536.30 points to 72,583.86, while the Nifty fell 200.10 points to 22,402.80.
Foreign institutional investors purchased equities worth ₹887.65 crore on a net basis on Friday (October 23, 2026). Additionally, RBI data released on Friday showed that India's forex reserves fell by $5.011 billion to $721.016 billion during the week ended October 16, following a previous decline of $8.578 billion to $726.027 billion.