Mumbai: The Indian rupee is trading little changed from its previous close, after exporters sold dollars to book their profit from the morning lows of the domestic currency.
Indian financial markets were close on Monday due to Diwali festival. The rupee opened at 61.9250 a dollar in the morning and started recovering thereafter.
At 2.15pm, the domestic currency was trading at 61.7250 a dollar, little changed from its Friday close of 61.73.
According to a senior currency dealer, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) could have sold dollars in the market to bring back rupee in the desired range of 61-62 a dollar as a signal.
The exchange rate for long has been trading in this range.
Since January this year, the rupee has weakened 10.9% and is the third most loser in Asia after Indonesian rupiah and Japanese yen.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major global currencies, was trading at 80.655, up 0.13% from its previous close of 80.553.
India’s benchmark equity index Sensex was trading at 21,040.35, down 0.94%, or 199.07 points, from the previous close.
The yield on the 10-year bond was at 8.725%, up from previous close of 8.683%. Interbank call money rate was at 7.75%.