The rupee on Wednesday depreciated by 31 paise to finish at one—month low at 61.07 against the dollar on sustained dollar demand from banks and importers.
“Lesser supply of inflows from FIIs and month—end demand for the US currency weighed on the rupee. Some debt related outflows from overseas investors was also seen,” said a forex dealer with a private sector bank.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market, the domestic currency declined to 61.19 intra day before settling at 61.07, a loss of 31 paise or 0.51 per cent, from the previous close.
In the last three straight days, the rupee has weakened by 78 paise or 1.29 per cent.
“It was selling by nationalised banks, which helped the rupee, otherwise it would have ended at 61.25—61.27 levels,” said a dealer with a foreign bank.
Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex rose by 118.17 points to finish at 22,876.54 after touching a high of 22,912.52.
The dollar index was down by 0.21 per cent against its six major global rivals.
The benchmark six—month premium payable in September settled at 213.5—215.5 paise against 216—218 paise previously.
Far forward contracts maturing in March, 2015 ended steady at 452—454 paise.
The Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for dollar at 61.0683 and for the euro at 84.4860.
The rupee continued to rule weak against the pound to finish at 102.61 from last close of 102.22 and also fell sharply against the euro to 84.51 from 83.93.
It, declined further to 59.73 per 100 Japanese yen from 59.25.