Rupee little changed; cenbank intervention expectations blunt drop in Asia FX
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The Indian rupee was nearly unchanged on Friday as expectations that the central bank would guard against a fall to the currency's all-time low countered weakness in most Asian currencies.
The rupee was at 83.53 against the U.S. dollar as of 10:00 a.m. IST, little changed compared to its close at 83.5425 in the previous session.
While local dollar demand and global cues have kept up the pressure on the currency, routine interventions by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have prevented a fall to the currency's record low of 83.5750 hit in April.
The dollar index was at 105.3 after climbing 0.5% on Thursday. Most Asian currencies edged lower on Friday, with the Indonesian rupiah down 0.6% and leading the losses.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan kept interest rates unchanged on Friday but said it would trim bond buying in the future to allow long-term interest rates to move more. The Japanese yen was last quoted lower by 0.5% at 157.86.
"The broad dollar strength was mainly attributed to weak sentiment on the euro, with limited negative spillovers to Asian currencies," MUFG Bank stated in a note.
The greenback rose even as U.S. yields declined on Thursday after more economic data signalled a cooling of the labour market and price pressures. The 10-year Treasury yield was up slightly in Asian hours after falling to a more than two-month low of 4.22%.
U.S. initial jobless claims rose to a 10-month high last week, while producer prices unexpectedly fell in May, the data showed.
"Think it (USD/INR) will stay near current levels unless a large inflow pushes it lower," a foreign exchange trader at a private bank said.
