The Indian rupee tumbled to a record low on Monday as a wobbly stock market heightened worries about foreign fund outflows, but rebounded to finish higher on heavy dollar sales by the central bank. The partially convertible rupee ended at 49.87/88 per dollar, 0.2 percent stronger than Friday's close of 49.950/965.
It struck a record low of 50.29 during trade at which point it was down 21.6 percent in 2008. Dealers said suspected dollar sales by the central bank was a key factor for the rupee's recovery. They estimated the Reserve Bank of India sold up to $1.5 billion to halt the rupee's slide.
The premium on the three-month dollar-rupee forward contract maturing in January dropped to 0.385/395 rupee, from an intraday high of 0.640 rupee, dealers said. The central bank does not comment on the daily movements in the foreign exchange market, a spokeswoman said. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoting at 52.34/54, 4.7 percent weaker than the onshore spot rate.