MUMBAI The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sold a net $3.86 billion in the spot foreign exchange market in August, according to data released on Thursday as part of the central bank's monthly bulletin. The RBI said it purchased $500 million and sold $4.36 billion during the period. In July, the central bank had bought a net of $3.47 billion in the spot market. The Indian rupee depreciated by 0.6% against the dollar in August. The unit traded in a range of 82.25 to 83.16.

The RBI's net outstanding forward purchase stood at $10.07 billion as of end-August, compared with a net purchase of $19.47 billion at the end of the previous month, the data showed.

The central bank intervenes in the spot and forwards market to curb exchange rate volatility.

The RBI has been intervening in the spot and forwards market over the last few weeks to prevent the rupee from weakening past its lifetime low of 83.29 against the dollar, traders said.

The currency was at 83.2450 to the dollar on Thursday.

(Reporting by Siddhi Nayak; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)