Nervousness gripped the interbank foreign exchange market on Monday and sent the rupee tumbling down following report of a series of bomb blasts that hit the city, but timely intervention by the central bank partly arrested the slide.
As the news of the explosions came in, the rupee already reeling under month-end pressures, plunged to the 46-dollar level, before concerted intervention by the Reserve Bank of India and other state-run banks, helped it to recover partly to Rs 45.90/92 per dollar at close, dealers said.
Despite dollar-buying intervention by the RBI and other public sector banks, the rupee still finished around nine paise down from last Friday's close of Rs 45.8300/8350.
The rupee opened distinctly weak at Rs 45.8450/8600 per dollar and dipped to Rs 45.87/88 in late morning deals, pulled down by the usual month-end dollar demand.
"The usual month-end pressures having taken a toll of the rupee, news of the bomb blast sent panic operators scrambling to cover short-dollar positions, resulting in the rupee losing over ten paise within an hour. But, determined intervention by the apex bank, helped stabilise trade and saved the day for the rupee," a dealer commented.
The rupee, was now stabilising from the temporary knee-jerk reaction and was allowing market forces of demand and supply to govern its direction, bankers said.
© 2026