Rupee closes little changed, posts weekly fall

Reuters: The Indian rupee ended little changed after trading in a narrow range on Friday on a lack of fresh triggers and amid intermittent dollar sales by the central bank to prevent a fall towards the record low.

The rupee closed at 83.2450 against the US dollar compared with its close at 83.23 in the previous session.

The central bank likely sold dollars on Friday near 83.25 levels but the intervention was not aggressive, traders said. Trading volumes were muted, they added.

The local unit fell 0.1 per cent this week.

The Reserve Bank of India's stern defence of the rupee has limited further depreciation, keeping the currency in a narrow range, Abhilash Koikkara, head of forex and rates at Nuvama Professional Clients Group.

"On lower levels, there is natural demand (for USD/INR)."

The dollar index was largely steady while Asian currencies were mostly higher with the Korean won leading gains.

A pullback in US Treasury yields encouraged some risk appetite in Asia lifting regional equity indices higher as well. The 10-year yield was last quoted at 4.86 per cent, well below the 5 per cent level breached earlier this week.

But the rupee failed to capitalise on the momentum in the face of persistent dollar demand from importers and equity-linked outflows, a foreign exchange trader at a private bank said.

Investors now await US personal consumption expenditure (PCE) inflation data for September due later in the day.

The core PCE inflation gauge is expected rise 0.3 per cent month-on-month, according to a Reuters poll, up from 0.1 per cent in the previous month.

While the US Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold rates steady at its upcoming meeting next week, an elevated inflation print could cement expectations that policy rates will stay higher for longer.