MUMBAI (Reuters) -The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) bought a net of $1.76 billion in the foreign exchange market in May, data released on Wednesday as part of the central bank’s monthly bulletin showed.
The RBI said it purchased $9.1 billion and sold $7.3 billion during the month. In April, the central bank had sold a net of $1.66 billion.
The Indian rupee had declined by over 1% in May, pressured by persistent uncertainty over U.S. trade policies, an armed conflict between India and Pakistan, and likely dollar-buying interventions by the central bank.
The RBI’s net outstanding forward sale stood at $65.2 billion as of end-April, compared with a net sale of $72.6 billion at the end of the previous month, the data showed.
The central bank intervenes in the spot and forwards market to curb exchange rate volatility. The rupee closed little changed at 86.4075 per U.S. dollar on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Kalra)
