The rupee on Friday weakened by 19 paise to close at 52.25/26 against the dollar following fresh demand for the U.S. currency from importers and weak equity markets.
Increased capital outflows as well as firm dollar overseas kept the rupee under pressure.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit opened lower at 52.15/16 a dollar from previous close of 52.06/07. It immediately touched a high of 52.06 on late morning recovery in stocks amid expectations of intrusion by the central bank and government’s efforts to encourage foreign investments by liberalising some proposals.
However, it dropped to an intra-day low of 52.46 on late sell-off in equities amid fresh dollar demand from importers, mainly oil refiners, to meet their month-end needs.
FIIs pulled out over $1 billion in last eight days since November 15, which also weighed on the rupee.
