MUMBAI (Reuters) – The Indian central bank’s persistent dollar sales on Friday have helped the rupee avert sharp losses amid sustained outflows from local equities, six traders told Reuters.
The rupee slipped to its record low of 84.0775 earlier in the session, inching past its previous lifetime low of 84.0750 hit earlier in the week. The currency was last quoted at 84.0675, as of 12:20 p.m. IST.
State-run banks were spotted offering the dollars through most of Friday’s trading session, most likely on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India ((RBI), the traders said.
The RBI is “expectedly present on offer (on USD/INR),” which should ensure that sharp losses remain at bay for the currency, a trader at a foreign bank said.
The rupee’s regional peers were mostly stronger on the day while the dollar index was a tad lower at 103.6 after touching an 11-week high of 103.87 on Thursday.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Kalra, Nimesh Vora)
