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* Rhythm of falling in rupee vs dlr spooks traders
* The lack of strong intervention on the part of the bank reinforces nervousness
* State elections, inflation, US Fed rate hikes (adding data, details of the intervention)
By Suvashree Choudhury
MUMBAI, Sept. 6 (Reuters) – The Indian rupee has fallen sharply against the dollar on Thursday despite gains from other Asian countries as investors worry about the pace of its fall and lack of intervention from the central bank.
Emerging market currencies have suffered from higher crude oil prices and tariff wars, but the sharp fall of nearly 3% in the last 15 sessions, compared with 70, has fueled investor uncertainty.
The rapid fall of the rupee, the worst-performing currency in Asia after losing nearly 12% this year, pushed exporters to defer sales by anticipating further declines, while demand from importers and companies looking to to cover oneself diminished.
Both factors have contributed to the fall of the currency in recent days, traders said.
"The main difference between India and other Asian countries is the pace of falling currency and superficial intervention," said Sajal Gupta, head of rates and forex at Edelweiss Securities.
"The central bank sold $ 24 billion during the rupee period from $ 65 to $ 69, while it sold only $ 5 billion, from $ 70 to $ 72."
Other hurdles, such as the 2018 parliamentary elections, domestic inflationary pressures, the worsening of the current account deficit and expected rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve, could worsen the fall of the rupee relative to the rest of the world. Asian currencies.
On Thursday, the rupee ended at 72.00 against the dollar against its previous close of 71.7750, but at a historic low of 72.11 at one point. He made up for losses after a moderate sale of dollars, likely by the Reserve Bank of India, dealers said.
Dealers estimate that the RBI sold about $ 1 billion Thursday, which they say was not very high, given the rapid drop.
"This is not an intervention, it's just a moderate sell (dollars) to mitigate volatility and no longer protect any level," said a leading Forex analyst in a public bank.
The RBI intervenes anonymously on the foreign exchange market via banks and publishes its foreign exchange reserves figures with a lag of one week. As a rule, traders can only estimate the intervention number from weekly data.
While the sharp fall of the rupee and the RBI's unobtrusive stance on the foreign exchange market surprised several traders, government officials were not very concerned about the rapid depreciation of the currency.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday night that there was no panic reaction to the fall. Trade Secretary Anup Wadhawan said the drop was due to global developments and helped Indian exports, which rose 14.32 percent in July to $ 25.77 billion from the previous year. last year.
"It's pretty puzzling for the markets what the government and the RBI want on the rupee, and why the government is sending signals that they are not worried about the rupee," said a foreign exchange manager. A public bank.
The next technical level of Fibonacci for the rupee will be 72.50 to 72.80 against the dollar, said the forex analyst. (Report by Suvashree Dey Choudhury, edited by Richard Borsuk and Clarence Fernandez)
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