Rupee ends higher on inflows, likely RBI intervention caps rise
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The Indian rupee rose for a third straight session on Monday on the back of dollar inflows, but its rally was run into by likely intervention from the central bank.
The rupee closed at 82.7575, up from its previous close of 82.7850.
The local unit had hit an over six-month intraday high of 82.65, but the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) likely purchased dollars via state-run banks to prevent a significant appreciation in the rupee, traders said.
"The rupee has broken a key support level of 82.80 given robust inflows, solid fundamentals and a weakening dollar," said Amit Pabari, managing director at forex advisory firm CR Forex.
"While the overall momentum is building towards the rupee edging towards 82.50, we feel that large-scale gains could be restrained due to dollar purchases from the RBI and importers."
The focus for investors was the RBI's $5 billion/rupee sell/buy swap that matured on Monday.
The RBI did not roll over the swap and took delivery, aiming to bolster foreign exchange reserves and rupee liquidity, four bankers said.
"The RBI may have accepted delivery of the swap and that was the most feasible option considering the significant inflows and as dollar liquidity is not a concern for now," Pabari said.
The rupee was also helped by strength in its Asian peers amid a drop in U.S. Treasury yields.
The Korean won climbed 0.8% and the Indonesian rupiah advanced 0.4%.
Focus now turns to the U.S. February inflation data due Tuesday. The data comes on the back of the higher-than-expected January inflation print.
