The Indian rupee was steady against the dollar on Tuesday with gains from capital inflows blocked by scattered central bank intervention in a bid to protect exporters' competitiveness, traders said. The partially convertible rupee ended at 44.2200/ 2275 per dollar, just lower from Monday's 44.215/220.
"When the RBI showed its face again today, the market pretty much walked away," said a dealer at a foreign bank, referring to the Reserve Bank of India's suspected selling of rupees. Data released on Friday showed India's foreign exchange reserves rose by nearly $4 billion in the week to February 16, which analysts said was due to central bank moves in the currency market to protect domestic exports from a stronger rupee. Traders said capital inflows remained strong, boosting sentiment for the rupee.