mumbai feb 1 reuters  the indian rupee was trading marginally higher against the dollar on wednesday ahead of the union budget and the us federal reserve policy decision the rupee was quoting at 818150 to the dollar at 1018 am ist compared with 8192 in the previous session the local currency had fallen below 82 on tuesday for the first time in three weeks after yesterdays session we are a buyer of the pair usdinr a trader at a mumbaibased bank said once the budget risk is out of the way the pair will once again eye the 82 level they added indias finance minister nirmala sitharaman will begin the budget speech at 1100 am ist volatility will be across the board from equity to bonds to currencies anindya banerjee head research  fx and interest rates at kotak securities said the focus will be on the fiscal math usdinr has an upward bias so long as it does not fall below 8160 banerjee added the rupees asian peers were trading mostly rangebound before the feds policy outcome fed chair jerome powell is expected to reiterate that bringing down inflation will remain a priority despite the downshift to smaller rate hikes how many hikes will be needed to stay on this path of bringing down inflation is less clear goldman sachs said in a note we expect two additional 25basis point hikes in march and may but fewer might be needed if weak business confidence depresses hiring and investment the recent us data has been weaker than expected prompting futures to price in rate cuts by the fed later this year the rupee forward premiums inched higher ahead of the budget with the 1year hovering near the 240 resistance level