MUMBAI, July 9 Reuters The Indian rupee was largely flat in early trading on Tuesday as mild dollar sales from staterun banks supported the currency even as most of its Asian peers slipped.

The rupee was at 83.4775 against the U.S. dollar as of 1010 a.m. IST, barely changed from its previous close at 83.4925.

Most Asian currencies edged lower ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell39;s closely watched twoday testimony before Congress starting later in the day. The dollar index was at 105 after rising 0.1 on Monday.

Powell39;s remarks will follow a string of relatively soft U.S. economic data which has helped push up the odds of a September rate cut by the Fed to above 75, according to the CME39;s FedWatch tool.

If Powell hints that the Fed is closer to an interest rate cut in September, it could send the dollar index below 104.75, a critical support level, DBS Bank said in a Tuesday note.

However, traders do not expect Powell39;s remarks to have a notable impact on the rupee.

It is tricky to say which cue may move the currency out of the prevailing 83.4083.60 band, with the Reserve Bank of India expected to limit depreciation, while corporate dollar demand caps gains, a foreign exchange trader at a staterun bank said.

Inflows worth about 2.1 billion into Indian debt and equities over July so far, according to stock depository data, have also supported the rupee.

Mostly rangebound price action though has squeezed volatility expectations on the dollarrupee…