The rupee finished the week at 82.83 per dollar, compared with 82.7175 in the previous session. For the week, it was down 0.4%, having traded in a narrow 30 paisa range. However, the rupee's losses for the week were lesser than that of its Asian peers. The Korean won and the Thai baht posted a weekly decline of more than 2%. The Philippine peso dropped 1.5% and the Chinese yuan lost 1%. The RBI was likely selling dollars in the NDF market this week, possibly to prevent the currency from weakening past the 83-level being watched by market participants. The central bank had defended that level back in December. It is "almost a fact" now that if the rupee falls below 83, we will see a record low quite quickly and it will not stop there, a trader at a private sector bank said. The RBI's consistent intervention ahead of the 83.00 level and the favourable seasonality factors can help a modest recovery of the rupee, Jayaram Krishnamurthy, head of research and advisory at Almus Risk Consulting, said. Asian currencies were pressured this week by the rise in Treasury yields and the dollar index. The 2-year U.S. yield reached its highest level since November on the back of U.S. data that supported more Federal Reserve rate hikes. Fed comments are now turning more hawkish. Two Fed officials said on Thursday the U.S. central bank should have lifted interest rates more than the 25 basis points it did at its last meeting. They warned that additional hikes in borrowing costs are essential to lower inflation back to desired levels. (Reporting by Nimesh Vora; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
By Anushka Trivedi and Nimesh Vora
MUMBAI, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee declined for
the fourth straight week on Friday on concerns over surging U.S.
yields, but did not weaken below a key level on likely
intervention by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in the
non-deliverable forward (NDF) market.
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