RBI net buys USD 852 mn of US currency in October

The Reserve Bank continued to remain a net purchaser of dollar in October after it bought USD 852 million in October from the spot market.
Though the pace of dollar accretion slowed in October as compared to the last month.
In the reporting month, the Reserve Bank bought USD 1.910 billion, while it sold USD 1.058 billion of the US currency in the spot market, according to the latest RBI data.
In September, it had bought USD 3.788 billion but sold USD 2.529 billion in the spot market, becoming a net purchaser of USD 1.259 billion. RBI had bought a net of USD 3.226 billion of the greenback in August.

The central bank's intervention in the foreign exchange market is to curb volatility in the rupee and not to target a price band.
Last year in October, RBI bank was a net seller of the US currency after it had bought USD 9.548 billion while it sold USD 9.966 billion in the spot market.

In FY17, it net purchased 12.351 billion of the US currency as it bought USD 71.764 billion and sold USD 59.413 billion in the spot market.
In the financial year 2016, the central bank was again a net buyer to the tune of USD 10.209 billion.

In the forward dollar market, the outstanding net forward purchase at the end of October was USD 31.374 billion while the net forward purchase at the end of September was USD 31.131 billion, the data showed.