By Nimesh Vora
MUMBAI (Reuters) -The Indian rupee declined to a lifetime low on Wednesday, weighed down by nervousness in its Asian peers about the outcome of the U.S. elections and by persistent foreign outflows from domestic equities.
The rupee dipped to an all-time low of 84.0900 to the U.S. dollar, crawling past the previous low of 84.0850. It has hit new lows multiple times over the last two weeks.
The Reserve Bank of India has been intervening regularly to support the rupee, which has meant that despite the multiple lows, the currency is down just 0.34% this month.
The extent of the RBI’s control can be gauged by the fact that the rupee has traded in a mere 10 paisa range since slipping past the 84 level on Oct. 11.
As a result, the currency’s realized volatility has collapsed, in contrast to its Asian peers, which have been under pressure on the prospect of Donald Trump winning the U.S. elections and data indicating a healthy U.S. labour market.
The offshore Chinese yuan dropped to a 2-1/2 month low on Tuesday. The 1-month implied volatility on the rupee is one-fourth of that of the yuan.
Meanwhile, foreign investors have taken out more than $10 billion from Indian equities so far this month, which is a sharp turnaround from the near $7 billion inflows in September.
The lure of Chinese equities following the country’s stimulus plans as well as India’s relatively expensive valuations and a mostly disappointing earnings season so far has prompted investors to dump Indian shares.
The Nifty 50 Index has dropped 5.3% month-to-date.
(Reporting by Nimesh Vora; Editing by Savio D’Souza)
