Indian rupee opens strong at 64.21/USD

The Indian rupee on Thursday opened at 64.21 to the dollar, over 0.2 percent up from its previous close.

Mohan Shenoi of Kotak Mahindra Bank said, "FoMC maintains status quo and expects normalisation of balance sheet relatively soon. The dollar index has hit a 12-month low below 94 and the rupee is expected to open stronger."

"We expect the USD-INR pair to trade in a range of 64.10-64.40 today," he added.

Speaking about the bond market, Shenoi said, "The bond market is expected to trade positively on the back of lower US 10-year treasury yield. However, a stronger rupee could prompt OMO sale by RBI which is bond negative."

"The market continues to expect 25 bps cut in policy rate in its review next week. The 10-year benchmark bond yield is expected to trade in a range of 6.42-6.46 percent for the day," he said.

The dollar fell touching its lowest level in more than a year against a basket of currencies after the release of the Federal Reserve's policy statement announcing no changes to monetary policy. The dollar index fell to its lowest since June 23, 2016.

Against the yen the dollar reversed gains and was trading almost flat.