The Indian rupee notched mild gains on Wednesday despite central bank intervention to hit a fresh 12-week closing high, helped by foreign investment and trade inflows, traders said.
The rupee ended at 45.2850/2950 per dollar, a touch firmer than Tuesday's close of 45.2900/3000, the previous 12-week closing peak. This is its highest finish since 45.2750/2775 on November 7, 2003.
Traders said the rupee weakened to a session low of 45.3250 in early deals on short-covering by banks before rising on strong foreign currency inflows to test 45.2700.
"Dollar supply lifted the rupee after it was dragged down by some short covering in the morning," said a trader at a state-run bank, adding that the currency would have finished stronger but for the central bank's intervention.
Traders say the central bank intervenes often to slow the rising rupee to maintain the competitiveness of Indian exports and prevent excessive currency speculation.
The six-month dollar closed at an annualised premium of 0.97 percent compared with 0.84 percent on Tuesday.
Comments
Comments are closed.