The rupee dropped to its 10-month low of 56.37 a dollar intra-day on Wednesday following heavy demand for dollar from oil companies and other corporates.
The rupee closed at 56.17 a dollar against 55.96 on the previous trading day, a drop of 21 paise.
“Rupee opened weak against the dollar, and plunged to its lowest levels in the last 10 months, tracking strength in dollar versus major currencies. Dollar index strengthened as U.S. consumer confidence and S&P/Case-Shiller housing prices posted better-than-expected figures,” said Sugandha Sachdeva, AVP & Incharge-Metals, Energy & Currency Research, Religare Securities Limited.
“Month-end dollar demand from oil companies and importers, coupled with weakness in domestic equity markets, has also contributed to the strength in dollar,” Ms. Sachdeva added.
“The undertone in rupee / U.S. dollar pair is bearish, and can extend rupee’s loss up to 56.80-57.00 levels in the coming days. On the upside, support is pegged at 56-55.80 levels,” the said.
Stocks lack lustre
Stock indices closed lower on Wednesday in lacklustre trading as funds chasing specific stocks based on their annual financial results.
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 30-share sensitive index, Sensex, closed at 20147.64 with a loss of 13.18 points as realty sector lost the most by 2.50 per cent followed by metal 1.13 per cent and banks 0.82 per cent.
However, healthcare stocks gained 1.82 per cent. Among other sectors which gained were consumer durables 0.82 per cent, FMCG 0.58 per cent, automobile 0.34 per cent and oil and gas 0.12 per cent.
On the National Stock exchange, the 50-share Nifty closed at 6104.30 with a loss of 6.95 points.
The BSE mid-cap and small-cap stocks lost 0.39 per cent and 0.16 per cent, respectively. The BSE 100 lost 0.27 per cent, BSE 200 0.26 per cent and BSE 500 declined by 0.26 per cent.
