Rupee reacts little to fall in Asian peers on likely RBI intervention

MUMBAI, Aug 21 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee was little changed on Monday despite a fall in Asian peers on likely intervention by the central bank.

The rupee was at 83.10 to the dollar by 11:22 a.m. IST, barely changed from Friday. The Chinese yuan, the Korean won and the Indonesian rupiah were all down 0.3%.

“Again, rupee is managing to avoid a fall to record low. RBI, at least for now, looks to want to keep rupee hovering around the 83 handle,” a forex trader said.

The Reserve Bank of India likely intervened to keep the rupee in check in the face of an upbeat U.S. dollar.

“For the rupee, as long as the RBI defends 83.15, dollar bulls shall remain at bay,” said Amit Pabari, managing director of forex advisory firm CR Forex.

“In the short run, the pair is likely to remain caged in the 82.75-83.25 levels.”

The offshore yuan dropped below 7.3250 to the dollar. China cut its one-year benchmark lending rate on Monday by 10 basis points, compared to a 15 bps reduction expected by majority of economists polled by Reuters.

Apart from the yuan and the RBI, rupee traders are looking at U.S. yields this week. The jump in long-maturity U.S. yields on expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep rates high for longer has impacted the demand for rupee and other emerging market currencies.

For cues on the path of U.S. interest rates, investors will watch Fed Chair Jerome Powells comments this week at the central banks Jackson Hole Economic Symposium.