Indian rupee ends weaker

20 Jan, 2025

MUMBAI: The Indian rupee slipped on Friday and logged its worst week in 18 months, hurt by persistent foreign portfolio outflows and heightened dollar bids in the non-deliverable forwards (NDF) market.

The currency declined to an all-time low of 86.6475 earlier in the week but frequent interventions by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) helped prevent sharper losses, traders said.

On the day, the rupee closed lower at 86.61 and was down 0.6% for the week, its steepest weekly fall since July 2023.

The domestic unit also logged its eleventh straight week of declines.

The rupee fell past the psychologically important 86 level this week, bogged down by a rally in the US dollar and as expectations of policy changes under incoming US President Donald Trump continue to cast a shadow on emerging market currencies.

Amid these headwinds, the rupee’s pace of deprecation has also gathered steam, with the fall to 86 from 85 taking place in less than a month, compared to the decline to 85 from 84, which took about two months.

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