MUMBAI, May 24 Reuters The Indian rupee, having opened slightly weaker, crawled up on Wednesday, supported by dollar inflows and recovery on the Chinese yuan, traders said.

The rupee was last at 82.70 to the U.S. dollar compared with 82.80 in the previous session and 82.83 at open.

The offshore Chinese yuan was at 7.06 to the dollar, having dropped to below 7.08 at one point. Indian equities were marginally higher after slipping at the open.

It looks like there is some possible inflow, a senior trader at a private sector bank said.

Plus, the yuan has recovered and Indian equities are holding up, providing an excuse to sell the USDINR pair.

Investors eyed the news flow around the U.S. debt ceiling. Negotiations over the debt ceiling between representatives of U.S. President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans failed on Tuesday, with the deadline to raise the borrowing limit approaching.

Meanwhile, overnight data out of the United States raised the odds of a Federal Reserve rate hike at next month39;s meeting. A survey from SP Global showed its flash U.S. Services PMI Index rose to 55.1, the highest reading since April last year.

This comes after recent reports underscored a resilient U.S. labour market and robust retail sales.

Data indicating that the U.S. economy is holding up well combined with hawkish comments from Fed officials have pushed up the odds of a rate hike in June to near 30.

Post Fed Chair Jerome Powell39;s comments last Friday that were seen…