By Jaspreet Kalra
MUMBAI, Nov 29 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee traded flat near its all-time low on Friday, lagging behind its Asian peers amid sustained pressure from foreign portfolio outflows while intervention by the Reserve Bank of India limited losses.
The rupee INR=IN was at 84.49 against the U.S. dollar as of 09:45 a.m. IST, barely changed from its close of 84.4850 in the previous session. The currency hit its all-time low of 84.5075 last week.
State-run banks were spotted offering dollars near the 84.50 level, most likely on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India, traders said.
Foreign investors net sold about $1.4 billion of local stocks on Thursday, keeping the rupee under pressure.
Portfolio outflows, elevated U.S. Treasury yields and a broadly stronger dollar since Donald Trump's U.S. election victory earlier this month, have pressured the rupee, while frequent interventions by the central bank have staved off sharp declines.
The rupee has weakened by 0.5% over November so far, its worst monthly decline since March, but has outperformed most Asian peers, which have declined by as much as 2% on the month.
Most Asian currencies were stronger on Friday, though, as the dollar index dipped 0.2% to 105.8, largely on the back of a rally in the Japanese yen.
DBS Bank expects the rupee to gradually weaken to 86 by the end of 2025.
"We find it prudent to adjust our currency forecasts to reflect a bias towards a stronger USD at the onset of Trump's second term," DBS analysts said in a note.
Investors now await India's gross domestic product $(GDP)$ data for the July-September quarter due later on Friday, which will hold cues on the extent of the economic slowdown that contributed to equity outflows.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Kalra; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
((jaspreet.kalra@thomsonreuters.com))
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