MUMBAI, April 2 (Reuters) – The Indian rupee ended little changed on Tuesday after hovering in a tight band through the session as dollar sales by exporters helped offset weakness in the currency’s Asian peers.
The rupee closed at 83.3850 against the U.S. dollar, barely changed from its close at 83.40 in the previous session.
The local unit hovered between 83.3450 and 83.3950 during the day’s session.
The rupee saw “sideways price action” through much of the session amid relatively muted trading volumes, a foreign exchange trader at a foreign bank said.
The Reserve Bank of India is likely to keep offering dollars around 83.45 to prevent the rupee from hitting fresh all-time lows, FX advisory firm IFA Global said in a note. The rupee had hit a record low of 83.45 last week.
Meanwhile, open interest on dollar-rupee April month futures fell after brokers informed their clients of an RBI notification that would require that positions in rupee contracts can only be taken against contracted exposures.
Investors now await the release of U.S. job openings data later in the day, alongside remarks from Federal Reserve officials for cues on policymakers’ thinking about when the Fed could start cutting rates.
The odds of the Fed keeping rates unchanged in June have risen to 41%, from about 30% a week earlier, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.
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Reporting by Jaspreet Kalra; Editing by Savio D’Souza
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