USD/INR closed at 70.6175 against its open at 70.84.Dollar opened higher Wednesday on month-end dollar demand by oil importers amid strong dollar.Investors now eye Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech due later today for cues on future rate hikes, while the market remain cautious ahead of the G-20 meet.
Month-end dollar demand is supportive and dollar index is also strong backed by FOMC member's comments, The greenback edged higher after a senior Fed official reaffirmed the need for further rate increases amid higher safe haven bids on fear of simmering Sino-US trade tensions.
Tuesday, Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida backed further rate hikes while mentioning that the tightening path would be data dependent. He commented monitoring of economic data has become even more critical as the Fed edged ever closer to a neutral stance.
US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are due to meet on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Argentina that kicks off on Friday.
Adding to that, crude oil prices rose Wednesday ahead of an OPEC meeting next week at which the producer club is expected to decide on the much rumoured supply cut to counter an emerging glut.
Brent crude oil futures for January delivery traded 0.75% higher at $60.66 a barrel on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, local stocks opened higher on positive global cues that helped rally in Asian markets as hopes of trade truce between US-China resurfaced while overseas investors, in search of risky assets, continued to remain buyers on local shares.
Sensex closed 204 pts up, whereas Nifty closed up at 10,700.