mumbai april 13 reuters  the indian rupee strengthened to the psychologically critical 8185perdollar level on thursday as cooling us inflation increased bets that the federal reserve was near the end of its ratehiking cycle and weighed on the greenback the rupee finished up 028 at 8185 per us dollar having risen upto 818375 during the session it ended little changed for the week after rising for three straight weeks indias financial markets are shut on friday for a holiday the south korean won jumped 1 on the day while the indonesian rupiah rose 08 as the dollar index fell further to a twomonth low pressured by a surging euro with the european central bank expected to stay hawkish for longer to battle stillhigh inflation data overnight showed us headline inflation softened in march the markets are now pricing in one last fed rate hike of 25 basis points in may followed by rate cuts from july however us core inflation remained elevated in march which analysts warned could be a cause for concern it seems that investors are very much welcoming the forthcoming fed easing cycle they have a conviction call that the dollar will weaken and are looking for opportunities ing analysts wrote in a note the minutes of the feds meeting in march revealed worries about the banking crisis with staff projecting a mild recession later this year that seemed to weigh on asian equities that mostly closed lower also dragged by a tech selloff in hong kong meanwhile data showed indias merchandise trade deficit widened morethanexpected to 1973 billion in march after two months of improvement markets now await us retail sales data on friday to see how consumer spending is being affected by higher prices