Traders said that due to corporate demand for US dollar purchases, the Indian rupee weakened slightly on the first trading day of 2026; at the same time, the volume on the first trading day of the new year was light, limiting large exchange rate fluctuations. On Thursday, the rupee opened at 89.9525 against the US dollar, lower than Wednesday's closing price of 89.87. After fluctuating in a narrow range, the currency closed down 0.1% to 89.97. The rupee had a cumulative decline of 4.72% throughout 2025, the worst annual performance since 2022. As major markets are still in the New Year holidays, trading volume is sluggish, and daily capital flows are the main driver of exchange rate trends. Thursday's exchange rate movements continued the overall pattern for most of 2025 — supply and demand fundamentals continued to put depreciation pressure on the rupee.

Traders said that due to corporate demand for US dollar purchases, the Indian rupee weakened slightly on the first trading day of 2026; at the same time, the volume on the first trading day of the new year was light, limiting large exchange rate fluctuations. On Thursday, the rupee opened at 89.9525 against the US dollar, lower than Wednesday's closing price of 89.87. After fluctuating in a narrow range, the currency closed down 0.1% to 89.97. The rupee had a cumulative decline of 4.72% throughout 2025, the worst annual performance since 2022. As major markets are still in the New Year holidays, trading volume is sluggish, and daily capital flows are the main driver of exchange rate trends. Thursday's exchange rate movements continued the overall pattern for most of 2025 — supply and demand fundamentals continued to put depreciation pressure on the rupee.