Aggressive central bank intervention helps Indian rupee rise above 88/USD, traders say

MUMBAI: The Indian central bank intervened aggressively to shore up the rupee on Wednesday, boosting the South Asian currency to a near one-month peak of above 88 per US dollar, four traders told Reuters.

The Indian rupee rose sharply at the open of the local spot market and touched a peak of 87.9250 before paring slightly to last quote at 87.9850, up 0.9% on the day.

The central bank’s intervention was characterised as very aggressive by traders and followed about two weeks of the rupee being pinned near its record low of 88.80.

Frequent interventions by the central bank had helped it hold over that mark since September 30.

The dollar index was down 0.2% at 98.9 while most Asian currencies were trading stronger on Wednesday.