India central bank likely bought dollars in spot to stem rupee slide

India central bank likely bought dollars in spot to stem rupee slide

Business

Public sector banks are conducting swaps, indicating RBI is sterilizing spot intervention

MUMBAI (Reuters) – The Reserve Bank of India likely bought dollars and conducted sell/buy swaps via public sector banks after the rupee reached a more-than-two-month high on Tuesday, three traders told Reuters.

The rupee was last at 81.7950 to the US dollar, off the day's high of 81.6750 while the USD/INR 1-year forward implied yield rose 3 basis points to 1.72 per cent.

Two public sector banks were buying dollars, likely for the RBI, while a large private sector bank was on the bid on USD/INR for its importer clients, a currency trader said.

Public sector banks were conducting sell/buy swaps for June delivery, indicating that the RBI was sterilizing the spot intervention, traders said.