The Rupee opened weaker on Wednesday despite a pullback in oil prices, with near-term pressures from non-deliverable forward ?maturities and portfolio outflows expected to dominate, bankers said. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the U.S. ?was making progress in negotiations for halting the war with ?Iran, while a source confirmed that Washington had sent Iran a 15-point settlement ?proposal. Oil prices have been highly volatile, reacting sharply to headlines around Iran and shifting signals on negotiations. Prices have seesawed, rallying on escalation risks and witnessing equally ?steep pullbacks on reports about negotiations. While the rupee is typically highly sensitive to oil prices, Wednesday’s session is likely to be driven more by ?upcoming maturities across ?onshore, NDF and ?futures markets, bankers said. They noted that with the spot date marking the last day of India’s fiscal ?year, maturities that generate dollar demand could keep the ?rupee ?under pressure despite relief from lower oil. A currency trader at a private sector bank said the rupee continues to face pressure from sustained equity ?outflows, ?averaging roughly $1 billion per day in recent ?sessions. The euro edged higher, up 0.1% at $1.1619, with most ?other currency pairs remaining unchanged. The British pound was up 0.1% at $1.3428, while the New Zealand ?dollar was flat at $0.5834. The subdued volatility contrasted with a surge in equity futures and ?a plunge in crude oil prices after Trump said on Tuesday the U.S. was making progress in its ?efforts to negotiate an end to the war. Against the yen , the U.S. dollar ?was steady at 158.645 yen, after the release of minutes from the Bank of Japan's January policy meeting ?showed many board members saw the need to keep raising interest rates without any specific pace in mind. The Australian dollar ?fell as ?much as 0.2% to $0.6983 before rebounding to trade flat after the release of inflation data for February, which showed a 3.7% rise prior to the start of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, a slightly slower pace than expected by analysts. Although markets still anticipate no change in U.S. interest rates this year, expectations of policy tightening are rising. Fed ?funds futures now imply a ?30.2% chance of a ?25-basis-point hike at the Federal Reserve's December meeting, up sharply from 8.2% a day earlier, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool. The U.S. dollar index , which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.1% ?at 99.126. Oil prices dropped more than 5% on Wednesday ?on the prospect of a possible ceasefire easing supply disruptions from the key Middle East producing region after reports the U.S. sent Iran a 15-point plan to end the war between them. Brent crude futures fell $6.21, or 5.9%, to $98.28 a barrel by 0058 GMT, after declining to as low as $97.57. U.S. ?West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down $4.67, or 5.1%, at $87.68 a barrel, after falling to as low ?as $86.72.......