The Indian rupee ended higher for second consecutive ‍session on Wednesday ‍on likely dollar sales from state-run banks, which traders ​said could be on behalf of the central bank, helping reverse the pressure ⁠from slightly softer Asian cues.

The rupee ended 0.3% higher at 89.88, its highest closing ⁠level in ‌a week, after closing at 90.1650 in the previous session. It hit an intraday high of 89.86.

The Reserve ⁠Bank of India resorted to heavy intervention to support the rupee once again, nine traders said, and that pushed the currency past the 90-per-dollar mark.

Wednesday's intervention followed a familiar playbook that the RBI ⁠used repeatedly last year, when ​it stepped in aggressively to push the rupee higher, aiming to disrupt one-way moves. Previous interventions ‍came amid a build-up of speculative long dollar positions and expectations of consistent rupee ​depreciation, according to bankers.

Before the central bank intervention on Wednesday, the rupee had fallen about 1% over the past two weeks.

The local currency rupee continues to face headwinds from persistent foreign selling of Indian equities, a trend that has extended from 2025 into the New Year, alongside lingering uncertainty over a U.S.–India trade deal.

"Going forward, resilient macro fundamentals and an improvement in capital flows as U.S. related trade uncertainty eases, should reduce ⁠pressure on the rupee. However, we expect the ‌currency to remain range-bound, as the RBI rebuilds FX reserves if portfolio inflows recover," Goldman Sachs said in a note.

It forecasts the ‌currency to ⁠be at around 89.50 in three months and 91 in six months.

(Reporting by ⁠Dharamraj Dhutia; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Janane Venkatraman)