MUMBAI: The Indian rupee was flat on Tuesday as likely intervention from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) helped the local currency hold its ground even as most other Asian currencies fell.
The rupee was at 83.38 as of 11:10 a.m. IST, barely changed from its close at 83.3650 in the previous session.
Most Asian currencies declined, with the Korean won down over 0.7%, leading losses.
The RBI sold dollars near 83.38 - 83.39 levels to cap further depreciation in the rupee, five traders said.
The rupee had fallen to its lifetime low of 83.42 on November 10.
Since then, the rupee has remained in a 83.01 and 83.3950 range.
The RBI may remain active “through much of the session,” and price action suggests they were active in the non-deliverable forwards market overnight as well, a foreign exchange trader at a foreign bank said.
The rupee “has started to underperform other Asian currencies over the past month, but importantly with extremely low FX volatility given RBI’s FX intervention,” MUFG Bank said in a note.
Indian rupee ends down on importers’ dollar buys
Over November, while the dollar index fell by 3% and Asian currencies rallied, the rupee stayed on the sidelines and ended the month slightly weaker.
The dollar index edged lower to 103.59 after staging a mild recovery in New York overnight amid a rebound in US Treasury yields.
The 10-year US treasury yield rose 6 bps overnight and was last quoted lower at 4.24%. Despite the slight bounce, the 10-year yield is well-below its multi-year high of above 5% hit in late October.
US yields have receded as softening in US economic data and dovish commentary from Fed officials bolstered wagers that the Fed is done hiking rates.
Fed futures are now pricing that the Fed could start cutting policy rates as soon as from March or May.
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