Corporate dollar bids erode Indian rupee bounce, shorts deterred by intervention

MUMBAI: The Indian rupee ended a touch higher on Thursday, with corporate dollar demand eroding early gains linked to likely central bank intervention.

Traders said the intervention dented appetite for short wagers on the currency.

The Indian rupee closed at 90.59 per dollar, up 0.1% from the previous session.

The currency rallied to as high as 90.14 on the interbank order matching system soon after the intervention but later shed those gains.

The Reserve Bank of India likely sold dollars before the local spot market opened, with traders pointing to aggressive sales from a large state-run lender.

“It seems to be pre-emptive intervention to discourage a build up of shorts (on INR),” a trader at a Mumbai-based bank said.

Another trader added that the intervention will likely dent expectations of the rupee falling past 91 in the near term.

The RBI’s intervention also limited the spillover from weakness in local equities. India’s benchmark equity index, the Nifty 50 fell 0.6%, dragged by a drop in information technology stocks.

In global markets, the dollar was broadly on the backfoot. The Korean won rose 0.7%, while the euro and pound were firmer against the greenback as well.

Investor focus this week is on a slew of U.S. economic reports. Data on Wednesday showed that job growth unexpectedly accelerated in January while the unemployment rate eased a touch, signalling labour market stability that could encourage the Federal Reserve to leave rates unchanged in the near term.

“The report has helped to dampen downside risks for the U.S. dollar in the near-term but does not change our outlook for the U.S. dollar to weaken further in 2026,” MUFG said in a note.