Rupee down 16 paise against dollar in early trade

The rupee fell by 16 paise in the early morning trade against the dollar, which gained overseas after the US Federal raised the discount rate for loans to banks.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the rupee fell by 16 paise to 46.44 a dollar, extending its previous day’s losses. The local unit had ended lower by 18 paise at 46.28/29 in Thursday’s trading.

Dealers said weakness in Asian currencies against the dollar following the US Federal Reserve’s decision to raise the discount rate for emergency loans to banks and capital outflows by foreign funds from the domestic equities mainly put pressure on the rupee.

Meanwhile, the Bombay Stock Exchange index Sensex was down over 173 points, or 1.06 per cent at 16,154.16, in the opening trade on Friday.