MUMBAI (Reuters) – The Reserve Bank of India likely intervened via state-run banks to support the rupee on Friday as the intensifying conflict between India and Pakistan pressured the South Asian currency, four traders told Reuters.
The rupee was last quoted at 85.50, up 0.2% after retreating from the day’s low of 85.8425 hit earlier in the session.
Multiple state-run banks were spotted offering dollars, mostly likely on behalf of the RBI, traders said.
“This time they hit till 85.65,” a trader at a Mumbai-based bank said, referring to the likely dollar sales by the central bank.
The trader pointed out that dollar-rupee forward premiums had also declined from the highs hit earlier in the session.
India’s benchmark equity index, the Nifty 50, was down 0.7%, while the yield on the benchmark 10-year bond rose 3 basis points to 6.42%.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Kalra and Nimesh Vora; Editing by Varun H K)
