The rupee hit a record low on Monday as India’s defense of the currency failed to stop its decline but exacted a rising toll, with bond yields surging to five-year highs and investors demanding higher returns in an auction of cash bills.
The partially convertible rupee tumbled as far as 63.30 to the dollar despite measures in recent weeks by the central bank and government to defend it. It ended at 63.13/14, down 2.3 percent, its biggest single-day fall since September 22, 2011.
Efforts to prop up the currency, which has tumbled nearly 13 percent against the dollar this year, have thus far proved ineffective, making it the worst performer in emerging Asia and threatening to drive the region’s third-largest economy towards a full-blown crisis.
In a further threat to the already-slowing economy, the central bank’s effort to shore up the currency by draining liquidity from financial markets is pushing up market interest rates.
via Reuters
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