The rupee on Tuesday crashed by 80 paise, the biggest single-day fall in 15 months, against the U.S. currency on a sudden bearish turn in equities amid stronger dollar overseas.
In a fairly active trading at the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee closed at 47.16/17, a steep fall of 1.73 per cent.
It ended at 46.37 on Monday. Earlier, the rupee had ended lower by 81 paise on March 2, 2009.
Dollar buying by banks, to meet their clients' demand, and corporates on expectations of further rise in dollar abroad due to current global crisis, also weighed on the rupee, dealers said.
The Reserve Bank of India fixed the dollar reference rate at Rs. 46.69 and for the euro at Rs. 57.26.
It plunged against the pound to close at Rs. 68.83/85 per pound from Monday's close of Rs. 67.16/18 andalso declined against the euro to Rs. 57.39/41 per euro from Rs. 57.02/04 previously.
