The Indian rupee extended downside in opening trades on Friday tracing firm dollar overseas. INR opened at Rs 88.67 per dollar and fell to a low of 88.70 so far during the day. Yesterday, rupee depreciated 23 paise to close at 88.71 against the US dollar, on broad strength of the American currency and fading odds of a rate cut by the US Federal Reserve. The closely watched U.S. Labor Department report, delayed by the federal government shutdown, showed that September nonfarm payrolls increased by 119,000, more than double the estimated increase of 50,000. The US unemployment rate rose to 4.4% with the number of unemployed people at 7.6 million as of the month ended September 2025, compared to the 4.1% jobless rate with 6.9 million people in the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, Indian shares are set to follow global peers lower. The benchmark BSE Sensex surged 446.21 points, or 0.52 percent, to 85,632.68 while the broader NSE Nifty index ended up 139.50 points, or 0.54 percent, at 26,192.15 in the previous session. Meanwhile, India's infrastructure output remained flat year-on-year in October. The combined Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) in October 2025 has remained unchanged at 162.4 (provisional) as compared to the Index in October, 2024. The production of Fertilizer, Steel, Cement and Petroleum Refinery products recorded positive growth in October, 2025. The index, which tracks activity across eight sectors and makes up 40% of the country's industrial production, grew at a revised 3.3% in September. The cumulative growth rate of ICI during April to October, 2025-26 is 2.5 per cent (provisional) as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

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