MUMBAI: The rupee rose 49 paise to close at 95.28 per dollar on Tuesday from 95.77 in the previous session, outperforming Asian currencies after RBI introduced measures to curb dollar demand and speculative positions. The measures have widened bid-ask spreads in the forwards market and shifted some activity to the non-deliverable forward market.Meanwhile, RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra said the curbs were aimed at checking speculative bets against the rupee after the central bank found that around one-third of derivative trades were being cancelled or closed on the day they were entered into.In an interview with Moneycontrol published on Tuesday, Malhotra said RBI had acted because speculative activity was amplifying currency volatility instead of serving genuine hedging needs. “We observed excessive volatility and one-sided bets that were preventing market forces from determining the rupee’s true value,” he said.RBI announced a series of measures on Oct 10 after the rupee came under sustained pressure, touching a record low of 96.96 against the dollar on Friday. The steps included supplying dollars directly to three state-run oil marketing companies, tightening rules for foreign exchange derivatives and introducing a Foreign Exchange Risk Reserve requirement for banks on qualifying transactions. The governor said genuine hedging typically involved maintaining a position for the duration of the underlying exposure.
