MUMBAI (Reuters) – The Indian central bank was likely selling U.S. dollars to support the rupee after the currency declined to an all-time low, pressured by outflows from local equities, four traders told Reuters on Monday.
The rupee slipped to a record low of 84.11 per U.S. dollar earlier on Monday and was last quoted at 84.1075.
State-run banks were spotted offering dollars near the 84.1125-84.1150 rupee levels, most likely on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), traders said.
Outflows from local stocks may keep the rupee under pressure on Monday but “it’s quite unlikely,” that the RBI will let it weaken past 84.15, a trader at a private bank said.
Benchmark Indian equity indices, the BSE Sensex and Nifty 50, were down over 1.5% each.
Asian currencies were mostly higher on the day, while the dollar index dipped 0.2% to 103.7.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Kalra, Nimesh Vora; Editing by Sonia Cheema)
