India's rupee closed higher on Oct. 21 after dealers linked demand to Jio Platforms Limited's IPO, as rising oil prices weighed on the currency, Reuters reported.
Reuters said the rupee finished at 94.46 per dollar, up 0.5%, after touching 94.43 during the session. The Financial Express reported a closing rate of 94.47.
When Reuters filed its currency report, Brent crude futures were up 1.3% and trading above $110 a barrel. The news agency cited rising oil prices as a risk to further gains.
Reuters and Business Standard reported that bids at the end of Oct. 21 totaled 3.16 times the shares available for public bidding. Jio's previously announced IPO comprises up to 270 million newly issued shares, according to its prospectus; the reported bid multiple applies to the smaller public bidding allocation. Reliance Industries Limited, Jio's parent, set a price band of ₹1,065 to ₹1,119 a share in an exchange filing.
Jio's prospectus earmarks some net proceeds to prepay specified borrowings of its telecom subsidiary, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited. It also lists general corporate purposes. Because existing investors are selling no shares, the issue proceeds go to Jio, while the new shares reduce existing owners' percentage stakes.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has identified high energy prices as an inflation risk. It raised its policy repo rate by 25 basis points to 5.50% on Oct. 7. Minutes released Oct. 21 showed that all six rate setters supported the increase, though two favored retaining a neutral policy stance. India's Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation reported annual consumer price inflation of 5.54% in September, up from 4.83% in August.
IPO bidding is scheduled to close Oct. 23. India's next consumer price report is due Nov. 12, before the RBI meets Dec. 2-4.
