Rupee rises on oil pullback; dollar liquidity remains inadequate

MUMBAI, Oct 25 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee rose marginally on Wednesday, helped by retreating oil prices and U.S Treasury yields, while the dollar/rupee cash swap rate indicated that dollar liquidity was less than sufficient.

The rupee was at 83.1500 to the U.S. dollar at 11:53 a.m. IST, up from its previous close of 83.1925 but slightly below its open at 83.0650.

“Its hardly surprising that the opening move lower (on USD/INR) did not sustain. Just think that 83 is a sustainable bottom for now,” a spot trader at a private bank said.

“Count on a 83 to 83.20 through the rest of the week,” the trader added.

Brent crude was down in Asia hours to $87.90 and was potentially headed for a fourth daily decline, while the selloff in U.S. Treasuries abated, with the 10-year yield backing off from the key 5% handle.

Meanwhile, USD/INR swap rate for today over tomorrow was at 0.15 paisa following the expiry of the Reserve Bank of Indias $5 billion swap on Monday.

At 0.15 paisa, the imputed rupee lending rate for raising dollars is 6%, which is 80 basis points below the rupee call rate.

“This would be near to 0.30-0.33 paisa on normal days, which we do not think we are likely to see any time soon,” a swap dealer said.

Risk appetite was slightly better in Asia, helped by the fall in U.S. yields, with focus moving to the third-quarter U.S. GDP data due Thursday.

“September (U.S.) retail sales boosted our forecast. We are tracking real GDP at 5.1% quarter-on-quarter annualised growth,” Morgan Stanley said in a note.