After two straight days of strengthening, the rupee weakened on the back of dollar demand from oil importers and dollar buying by custodian banks. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervened in the market through state-run banks, but could not save the rupee.
The rupee ended at Rs 62.50 compared with previous close of Rs 62.08. The rupee had opened at Rs 61.90 and during intra-day trades touched a low of Rs 62.57 and a high of Rs 61.77 per dollar.
However, the rupee is seen strengthening next week.
"There will not be month-end dollar demand next week due to which the rupee will strengthen. It may trade in the range of Rs 60.50-63.00 per dollar," said a currency dealer with a public sector bank.
Latest RBI data shows that foreign exchange reserves rose by $ 2.03 billion in the week ending September 20 and touched $ 277.38 billion. Since the start of this fiscal the rupee had depreciated by 15.14%.
Meanwhile the yield on the 10-year benchmark government bond 7.16% 2023 ended stable at 8.71% compared with previous close of 8.72%. There was partial devolvement on primary dealers in the new 17 year government bond auction to the tune of Rs 291 crore. The notified amount of auction was Rs 2,000 crore for the bond.
