MUMBAI, June 30 Reuters The Indian rupee was poised for its biggest monthly advance versus the U.S. dollar since January, aided by persistent foreign equity inflows.

The rupee was little changed at 82.0450 to the dollar on Friday, having hovered around the 82 handle throughout this week.

For the month, the rupee was up 0.8 on the back of more than 3.5 billion of inflows into Indian equities that have pushed the BSE Sensex and the Nifty 50 Index to record highs.

The significant foreign inflows have helped the rupee hang around the 82 level in the face of weakness in the Chinese yuan and the hawkish U.S. Federal Reserve, said Amit Pabari, managing director at CR Forex.

The rupee has fared better than most of the Asian peers in June. The offshore yuan is down about 2 this month, the Thai baht has lost 2.4 and the Indonesian rupiah is little changed.

The offshore yuan has been weighed by the divergent U.S. and China interest rate outlook and disappointment over the Asian nation39;s reopening recovery.

The Fed39;s hawkish tone and recent robust U.S. data have made it more likely that the central bank will opt for more rate hikes.

On Thursday, the final print for firstquarter GDP growth came in at 2.0, higher than last month39;s 1.3 reading and the 1.4 forecast by economists polled by Reuters. U.S. weekly claims for unemployment insurance dropped to 239,000 from last week39;s revised 265,000 number.

Odds of a 25basis point hike by the Fed next month reached nearly 85,…