The Indian rupee opened weaker on Thursday, with the ongoing revival in foreign equity inflows providing a counterweight to a resurgent dollar that has advanced ?to a one-month high. Foreign investors poured $1.34 billion into Indian equities on Wednesday, per provisional data, taking month-to-date inflows to just shy of the $8 billion mark. The scale of the reversal in foreign flows has been striking. Fears of tighter US restrictions on AI data-centre construction following the Democratic Party election win have unsettled the AI trade, prompting investors to pare exposure to semiconductor-heavy markets and redirect capital towards India, which is being seen as a diversification play. Before the November resurgence, foreign investors had pulled more than $30 billion from Indian equities so far this year. This has provided ?the rupee a much-needed lift, reinforcing the Reserve Bank of India's efforts to stabilise the currency. A retreat in oil prices has been an additional tailwind. Brent crude is hovering around $92 a barrel, down from a high of $118 ?less than two weeks ago. The dollar index held near a one-month high against major peers in Asian trading on Thursday, supported by mounting expectations of a Federal Reserve rate hike. Traders ramped up bets of further Fed tightening following higher-than-expected October inflation data and a series of hawkish remarks from US central bank officials. The dollar climbed to a 19-month high against major peers on Thursday, supported ?by growing expectations of a Federal Reserve rate hike, while the yen edged toward the key 160-per-dollar level following a dovish central banker's speech. The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, rose by 0.15% to 103.02, the highest since April 2025. New York Fed President John Williams is set to appear on a panel late Thursday that will be closely watched given his "pre-October FOMC meeting views the Fed had time on rate hikes," said Gavin Friend, senior markets strategist at National Australia Bank, in a note. Against the Japanese yen , the dollar reversed an earlier decline to trade 0.04% higher at 159.83, underpinned by wide interest-rate differentials as traders increased bets on further Fed hikes. It hit a more than two-month high earlier on Thursday. The euro was up 0.06% against the US dollar at $1.1096 while sterling slipped 0.1% to $1.3266. The Australian dollar was little changed versus the greenback at $0.6847, while New Zealand's kiwi was down 0.05% at $0.5559. il prices dropped more than $1 on Thursday as hopes for progress in peace talks over the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine ?wars pressured the market. Brent futures lost $1.14, or 1.2%, to $91.62 a barrel ?by 0141 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell $1.04, or 1.2%, to $85.49. Brent rose about 1.4% and WTI 0.6% on Wednesday after hitting two month lows the previous day. www.eforexindia.com......