Rupee jumps 67 paise to open at 94.30 against the US dollar; highest level in two months

The Rupee opened at 94.30, a jump of 67 paise against the US dollar in early trade marking its highest level in two months.

This high comes after the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) capital-raising measures brought in $136 billion, exceeding expectations and increasing the central bank’s reserves to support the currency.

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The currency pair was trading below its 100-day moving average, with traders anticipating further gains as sentiment improved due to the large inflows. The total inflows surpassed the $80 billion estimate provided by RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra last month.

The RBI announced late on Wednesday that lenders had collected about $127 billion in dollar deposits through a special programme targeting overseas citizens. Inflows from two other programmes added $9.15 billion, bringing the total to $136 billion.

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Michael Wan, senior currency analyst at MUFG Bank Ltd, said the key message to clients was that the risk of sharp rupee depreciation had been reduced by the RBI’s foreign-exchange measures, as mentioned in a report in Bloomberg. He added that the strong inflows gave the central bank significantly more resources to defend the currency against weakness.

Over the past month, the rupee has been the second-best performing currency in Asia. Shinhan Bank suggested it could strengthen further to around 93.50 in the coming days.