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Mumbai: The Indian rupee fell to a record on Friday, breaching the 94-per-dollar mark for the first time and teetering on the brink of 95, as surging crude oil prices weighed on the currency over fears that the Gulf war shows little sign of ending soon. Indian equities also got mauled-indices tumbled over 2% on Friday, marking a fifth consecutive week of declines-the longest losing bout since August-as investors remained wary despite US President Donald Trump extending the pause on attacks on Iran's power plants by 10 days. Weak global cues and concerns over oil prices weighed on sentiment, with analysts warning of further near-term declines. In the event of the conflict continuing to rage unchecked amid subdued central bank intervention, some traders are expecting the Indian currency to sink even further. The rupee closed at 94.81 to the dollar on Friday, weakening 84 paise from its previous close of 93.97. The rupee weakened to 94.85 at its lowest on Friday and has declined over 3.5% this month, LSEG data showed. Brent crude oil prices rose by $1.87, or 1.73%, to $109.88 a barrel. While state-run banks sold dollars, likely on behalf of the central bank, the intervention was muted, traders said. 129857252 Strait Closure Taking Toll That makes the rupee vulnerable to further depreciation, with many traders incorporating levels as weak as 97 per dollar into their forecasts. "Nothing really changes until the Strait of Hormuz opens up," said Anindya Banerjee, head of commodity and currency at Kotak Securities. "Even if the intensity of the war eases a bit, as long as there's still friction around the strait and oil is hovering near $115, the rupee could easily drift towards the 96 to 97 per dollar range." The NSE Nifty closed at 22,819.60, down 486.85 points or 2.1%, while the BSE Sensex ended at 73,583.22, falling 1,690.23 points or 2.3%. Both indices declined 1.3% over the past week. The Volatility Index (VIX) urged 8.7% to a four-year high of 26.8, reflecting heightened near-term risk expectations.

Kolkata\Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India has capped banks' net open positions in the rupee at $100 million at the end of each business day, tightening its oversight in the foreign exchange market as the currency slid to record lows. In a notification issued Friday, the central bank asked authorised dealers of foreign currency to comply with the rule by April 10. The cap will be on their open position on the onshore deliverable market. "Traders must be long on the dollar in a large way. This regulation basically curbs speculative positions of a bank, which will in turn reduce pressure on the rupee," said a currency trader at a private sector bank. "This is called the overnight open position which traders are allowed to keep in respect of all currencies involving the rupee. For a large bank, these positions can usually be at around $1 billion both in onshore and offshore markets," he said. RBI prescribes limits for open positions involving the rupee for exchange rate management and orderly development of the market, depending on market conditions. The rupee has depreciated 3.5% since the start of the war and nearly 10% in this fiscal year. High crude oil prices are clouding the outlook for the local unit, with traders now expecting the rupee to touch 96-97 per dollar if oil prices remain around $115 per barrel. "It has now been decided that authorised dealers shall ensure that their NOP-INR positions in the onshore deliverable market shall be maintained within $100 million at the end of each business day," RBI said Friday in its master direction on risk management and inter-bank dealings.

Online furniture rental platform Rentomojo has filed for an initial ‌public ⁠offering ⁠in Mumbai, according to a draft prospectus dated Friday. The company is ⁠selling new ‌shares worth up ⁠to 1.5 billion rupees ($15.85 million), while existing shareholders, including venture capital firm Accel, ‌is selling up to 28.4 million ⁠shares, the filing showed.

Reliance Industries Ltd. has set investment banking advisory fees for the planned initial public offering of its telecom unit at about 0.65% of the issue size, according to people familiar with the matter, largely in line with those to be paid by National Stock Exchange of India Ltd.Based on a potential offering size of up to $4 billion for Jio Platforms Ltd., the total fee pool may be as high as $26 million, with the bulk likely to be shared among lead banks such as Kotak Mahindra Capital Co. and Morgan Stanley, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.The fee distribution may ultimately depend on the client coverage from the banks and the company’s own discretion, two of the people said.A representative for Reliance didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.Jio’s IPO could be India’s largest-ever listing and the first by a major unit of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s flagship company, Reliance, in almost two decades.Jio’s banking fees are poised to be broadly in line with those set by NSE, which is considering an IPO that may raise about $2.5 billion, people familiar with the matter have said.The proposed fee structure by both Jio and NSE is notably lower than broader market averages. Indian companies paid investment banks an average of about 1.86% across 417 IPOs last year and 1.67% across 350 issuances in 2024, according to data compiled by LSEG.Reliance is aiming to file draft paperwork for Jio as early as the end of this month, people familiar with the matter have said. Other banks selected for advisory roles on the listing include HSBC Holdings Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JM Financial Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd. and SBI Capital Markets Ltd.