MUMBAI, April 17 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee rose on Thursday, aided by dollar inflows that helped it extend its winning run to a fourth consecutive session, while dollar-rupee forward premiums eased after Federal Reserve Chair Powell signalled a cautious approach to rate cuts.

The rupee was up 0.2% at 85.5225 as of 10:50 a.m. IST, while its regional peers were slightly lower on the day.

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Foreign banks were spotted offering dollars in early trade, likely on behalf of custodial clients, a trader at a state-run bank said.

While overseas investors have been net sellers of Indian equities so far in April, inflows have picked up over the last couple of sessions, helping the rupee, traders said.

Indian benchmark equity indexes, the Sensex (.BSESN) , opens new tab and Nifty 50 (.NSEI) , opens new tab, were marginally down on Thursday.

They have largely outperformed regional peers since the announcement of U.S. tariffs on wagers that the domestically-oriented economy will be relatively less impacted by trade shifts.

For the rupee, a decisive break above the 85.50 level could open the path toward 85 in the near term, said Amit Pabari, managing director at FX advisory firm CR Forex.

Meanwhile, dollar-rupee forward premiums were a tad lower after Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments on Wednesday tempered hopes of quick rate cuts by the central bank. The one-year implied yield was down 4 basis points at 2.19%.

"For the time being, we are well positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering any adjustments to our policy stance," Powell said, while noting that tariffs could lead to a situation where prices rise along with weakness in the labour market.

The odds of a Fed rate cut in June declined to about 65% from 72% before Powell's comments.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/inflows-help-rupee-cling-winning-streak-forward-premiums-slip-2025-04-17/