MUMBAI, Oct 18 (Reuters) – The Indian rupee was unable to benefit from a rise in its Asian peers on Friday as likely outflows from local equities and a buoyant dollar pressured the currency, but dollar sales from state-run banks helped limit losses.
The rupee was at 84.07 against the U.S. dollar as of 10:15 a.m. IST, little changed from its previous close and just shy of its all-time low of 84.0750 hit on Monday.
Dollar bids from foreign banks, likely related to custodial outflows, and local oil companies pressured the rupee on Friday, a trader at a state-run bank said.
However, mild sales from state-run banks, likely on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) helped the rupee hold above its all-time low, traders said.
Foreign investors have sold $8.4 billion worth of local stocks in October on a net basis so far, on course for the highest monthly outflows since at least 2002. Assets under custody of foreign portfolio investors had crossed $1 trillion as of end-September.
Asian currencies were mostly stronger with the Philippine peso up 0.3% and leading gains.
The data helped boost the dollar to an 11-week high of 103.87 on Thursday, also lifting U.S. bond yields.
The dollar index’s recovery “looks overstretched,” DBS Bank said in a note. With the rise in U.S. bond yield stalling near 4% this month, the dollar index should be lower around 102, the note said.
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Reporting by Jaspreet Kalra; Editing by Janane Venkatraman
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