MUMBAI: The Indian rupee hovered in a tight range on Tuesday, ending little changed against the US dollar, as likely intervention by the central bank offset local demand for the greenback.

The rupee ended at 83.3825 against the dollar, barely changed from its close at 83.3650 in the previous session.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sold dollars near the start of the spot trading session and also intermittently stepped in during the day, traders said. Meanwhile, importers, including local oil marketing companies, were seen bidding for dollars on Tuesday, a foreign exchange trader at a state-run bank said. The dollar index was steady at 103.6 while Asian currencies were mostly lower between 0.1% to 0.6%.

The offshore Chinese yuan held steady, likely supported by dollar sales from state-run banks in China after rating agency Moody’s cut China’s government credit rating outlook to negative.