Rupee little changed on dollar buying from state banks
Wednesday, 4 June 2014 00:19
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REUTERS: The rupee ended little changed on Tuesday in dull trade as dollar inflows from exporters and remittances were offset by state banks’ buying to prevent possible sharp gains in the local currency, dealers said.
Dealers expect the local currency to face upward pressure until demand for imports and credit picks up.
The rupee ended at Rs. 130.34/38 per dollar, little changed from Monday’s close of Rs. 130.35/37.
Dealers said the two state banks, through which the Central Bank intervenes to direct the market, bought dollars at Rs. 130.35 on behalf of the Central Bank to prevent sharp volatility in the currency.
“When the exporters came in, state banks were picking up (dollars) at Rs. 130.35 and curbing the volatility,” said a currency dealer asking not to be named.
Two other dealers confirmed the move, while Central Bank officials were not immediately available for comment.
On Monday the Central Bank had said the dollar buying by the state banks was for oil imports.
An official at the Central Bank’s International Operations Department told Reuters on Monday that the bank has been buying only the excess dollars.
Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal on Friday told Reuters that the bank would keep intervening in currency markets to prevent a too-rapid rise in the country’s rupee currency.
He said the country will probably see a tendency for the rupee to appreciate in the next few years, and the Central Bank is keen that whatever movement takes place happens in a “fairly gradual” manner.
Cabraal also said the bank does not have “an upper pain threshold” for the rupee, but “more of a volatility tolerance threshold”.
Ananda Silva, one of the two Deputy Governors at the Central Bank, told Reuters on Wednesday that the monetary authority has absorbed over $ 400 million as of 27 May of this year to prevent a sharp appreciation in the rupee.
Dealers say the Central Bank’s intervention has prevented gains in the currency and expect it to face upward pressure until credit growth and imports pick up.
Despite multi-year low interest rates, data on 5 May showed private sector credit grew at a four-year low of 4.3% in March from a year earlier. It hit a record 35.2% in March 2012.
