By Nimesh Vora
MUMBAI (Reuters) – The Indian rupee managed to hold above 83 to the dollar on Wednesday amid speculators considering the merit of short bets on the currency.
The rupee was at 82.94 to the U.S. dollar by 11:06 a.m. IST, barely changed from the previous session.
The currency recently hit a low of 83.16, from which it recovered primarily on the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) repeated intervention, both in non-deliverable forwards and on over-the-counter.
“The RBI looks quite committed to preventing a record low (for the rupee),” a forex trader at a bank said.
“When you combine that with the price action, it does seem to me that the risk-reward (for short rupee positions) is now poor.”
Amit Pabari, managing director at fx advisory firm CR Forex, said that thanks to the RBI, the rupee’s losses “are likely to remain limited to the 83.15-83.25 zone.”
The rupee’s Asian peers were mostly lower after the dollar index reached a more-than-two-month high in Tuesday’s New York session. The move higher in near-maturity U.S. yields boosted demand for the dollar.
The 2-year U.S. yield is now at 5.04%, just eight basis points shy of its high in the current Federal Reserve rate hike cycle.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell is due to speak on Friday at Jackson Hole and investors will be looking for hints on whether he thinks more rate hikes will be required.
U.S. flash PMI data is due later in day, providing cues on whether the world’s largest economy continues to be resilient in the face of aggressive rate hikes.
(Reporting by Nimesh Vora; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
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