The rupee closed at 84.0750 to the U.S. dollar, from 84.0775 in the previous session. The local unit had briefly hit a record low of 84.0850 in Monday’s session.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been intervening regularly to support the rupee, which has meant that the unit’s decline has been measured.
The muted price action in the spot market reveals the extent of the RBI’s control on the currency – for the last eight sessions, the rupee’s intraday trading range has been under three paisa.
“This is a wait-and-watch market. With intraday ranges so thin and heavily monitored by the RBI, it makes little sense to take a directional call on the rupee,” said a trader with a private sector bank.
There is a lack of interest from the hedgers and traders amid lower volatility, said Dilip Parmar, a foreign exchange research analyst at HDFC Securities, pegging the rupee in an 83.90-84.20 range for the short term. The local currency’s muted volatility is in stark contrast to its Asian peers. The offshore Chinese yuan is near its lowest in over two months and the Korean won at lowest since mid-June amid prospects of Donald Trump winning the U.S. elections and data indicating a healthy labour market.
The proximity to the U.S. election raises risks that less liquid currencies will face the pressure reserved for Trump-risk proxies, ING Bank said in a note.
“We suspect this dynamic will continue in the coming days,” ING said
