MUMBAI, Aug 22 Reuters The Indian rupee was marginally weaker on Thursday amid a pause in the rally in Asian peers, while forward premiums rose after Federal Reserve minutes and downward revisions to U.S. payrolls made it almost

The rupee was quoted at 83.9425 to the U.S. dollar at 10.36 a.m. IST, down from 83.9225 in the previous session. The rupee, expect for the respite the last few days, has been broadly struggling, which analysts say is largely due to importers.

The relentless dollar demand from importers is placing rupee under significant pressure, Amit Pabari, managing director at fx advisory firm CR Forex.

Foreign outflows from Indian equities are compounding the rupee39;s woes, he said.

Overseas investors have taken out more than 2 billion from Indian equities this month so far, per NSDL data. This is a change from the nearly 4 billion of inflows in July.

FED MINUTES REINFORCE RATE CUTS

The Fed appeared well on track to cut interest rates at its September meeting after a vast majority of officials indicated that in the minutes of its July 3031 meeting.

The downward revisions to U.S. payrolls added to the confidence that the Fed will cut rates at the September meeting and twice more this year. There was a slight increase in odds that the Fed may opt for larger 50 bps rate cut at next month39;s meeting.

Asian currencies were mostly weaker on the day despite this, probably taking a breather following the recent rally, traders said.

The dollarrupee forward…