Indian rupee opens higher as U.S. inflation concerns ease

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Indian rupee opened higher against the dollar on Thursday as a decline in the U.S. inflation rate boosted Asian currencies, lifting risk appetite.

The rupee was trading at 79.25 per U.S. dollar by 0333 GMT, up from 79.52 in the previous session.

**Asian shares and currencies rose after U.S. headline inflation slowed more than expected, prompting traders to pare bets of aggressive policy tightening by the Federal Reserve.

**Latest inflation report makes a 50 basis points hike more likely at the September meeting rather than a 75 basis points increase, although a lot will depend on the August CPI release next month, Morgan Stanley says in a note.

**Dollar index on Wednesday suffered its biggest decline since June 16.

**S&P 500 Index overnight climbed to highest since May.

**Dip in USD/INR to near 79.00-79.10 likely to prompt importers to hedge.

**Immediate support for pair seen at 78.80-78.90, the 50-day simple moving average.

(Reporting by Nimesh Vora)