Rupee slips to 1-month low

Though the Sensex recovered, the Indian rupee was pushed to its lowest in more than a month by suspected central bank intervention, dollar purchases by oil companies and repatriation of profits by overseas investors also weighed. The rupee ended at 39.800/805 per dollar, its weakest since October 23, and slipping from Friday’s finish of 39.71/72. It had hit 39.16 earlier this month, its highest since March 1998. “The RBI seems to like getting the last word every day,” said a dealer with a foreign bank, referring to the Reserve Bank of India, that is widely suspected to have intervened heavily against the rupee in late deals.

The local currency bucked a 2.1 per cent rise in local stocks, with some foreign funds selling the local unit to repatriate profits before the end of the year, dealers said.