The Rupee opened stronger and is likely to hold on to central bank-led recovery on Friday, with softer U.S. inflation offering incremental support, although doubts over the data and potential dollar demand from corporates may cap upside. The rupee has rallied from around 91 per dollar to current levels, a move that began with heavy Reserve Bank of India intervention soon after the market opened on Wednesday. Data collection for October was disrupted by the federal shutdown, preventing the publishing of month-to-month changes for November's CPI - creating voids that economists said made the report less reliable than normal. Economists at Morgan Stanley noted that the weakness in both goods and services could be partly due to methodological issues. The yen fell slightly on Friday in choppy trading after the Bank of Japan's closely watched policy decision, with investors awaiting further details from its governor later in the day to see if the central bank can keep hiking rates next year. The yen was down more than 0.3% at 156.02 per dollar after the BOJ raised its policy rate to 0.75% from 0.5% in a widely expected move that had been well telegraphed by policymakers. The euro extended gains to 182.92 yen , while sterling rose 0.3% to 208.71 yen . Much of the yen's trajectory now hinges on BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda's press conference at 0630 GMT to lay out the future interest rate path. Sources previously told Reuters the BOJ would not publish updated findings of its neutral rate estimate or use it as a key communication tool. Overnight, the dollar had briefly weakened following a sharp and unexpected fall in U.S inflation but investors were not sure how far to trust the data since collection was interrupted by the U.S. government shutdown, and the move soon retraced. Sterling round-tripped to sit at $1.3379 after the BOE cut interest rates to 3.75%, as expected, but the decision was closer-run than the market had anticipated which may limit the room for further easing. The euro dipped about 0.1% overnight and was flat at $1.1722 in Asia, weighed down because European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde offered no forward guidance and said all options were on the table, pushing back against more hawkish members. Norway's crown was little changed at 10.16 per dollar after the central bank left rates on hold at 4% and indicated it was in no hurry to cut. There was not much movement in the Swedish crown after rates were left on hold, as expected. The Australian and New Zealand dollars were broadly steady at $0.6612 and $0.5769 respectively. China's yuan was firm in onshore trade, hovering near a more than one-year high hit on Thursday, while South Korea's won has been under sustained selling pressure and was wobbly at 1477 per dollar. Oil prices fell in early trading on Friday and were set to close lower for a second straight week, as rising prospects of a Russia-Ukraine peace deal offset concerns over supply disruptions from a blockade of Venezuelan oil tankers. Brent crude futures fell 9 cents, or 0.2%, to $59.73 a barrel by 0111 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was trading 16 cents, or 0.3% lower, at $55.99 a barrel. On a weekly basis, both benchmarks were down more than 2%.......
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