The Indian rupee ended flat against the US dollar on Friday but posted its second weekly loss in a row, weighed down by a surge in US Treasury yields and a stronger greenback. The local currency ended at 83.245 a dollar against Thursday’s close of 83.25.
The dollar index was little changed at 106.29 and Asian currencies were largely steady as well. The 10-year US Treasury yield was last quoted at 4.74%, Reuters reported.
The rupee traded in a narrow range after the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy decision failed to provide any fresh cues to the currency, analysts said. The RBI kept its benchmark repo rate unchanged but signalled it would keep rates high and liquidity tight.
RBI also maintained the growth forecasts and slightly tweaked inflation projections.
Rupee posted a weekly loss of 0.23%.
Read RBI Policy Highlights here
Earlier in the week, the 10-year US Treasury yield rose to a peak of 4.88%, pressuring currencies like the rupee. But, RBI’s likely intervention supported the local unit at lower levels.
The rupee was also pressured by local oil companies’ demand for the greenback and failed to gain despite some early weakness in the US dollar index on Friday, a foreign exchange trader at a state-run bank told Reuters.
“We are on a thin edge, just need a trigger,” said Arnob Biswas, head of foreign exchange research at SMC Global Securities, referring to the rupee continuing to hover close to record low levels.
The rupee hit its lifetime low of 83.29 in October 2022.
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Investors will await the US non-farm payrolls report and the unemployment rate due later on Friday, which could provide further cues on US Federal Reserve policy.
Meanwhile, crude oil prices traded higher.
Brent futures rose 0.29% to $84.31 a barrel, having fallen over 11% this week, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 0.40% to $82.64 a barrel.
On the domestic front, the Indian stock market indices ended higher on Friday, extending their gains into the second consecutive session, after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintained a status quo on repo rates and policy stance, in line with expectations.
The Sensex closed 364.06 points, or 0.55%, higher at 65,995.63, while Nifty 50 ended at 19,653.50, up 107.75 points, or 0.55%.
On Thursday, the Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold Indian shares worth ₹1,864.20 crore, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) net purchased shares to the tune of ₹521.41 crore, as per provisional data available on the exchanges.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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Updated: 06 Oct 2023, 04:32 PM IST