The rupee tumbled 11 paise to close at a fresh lifetime low of ₹77.85 (provisional) against the U.S. dollar on Friday as a sell-off in domestic equities and stronger greenback overseas weighed on investor sentiment.
Persistent foreign capital outflows, elevated global crude oil prices and risk-averse sentiments also impacted the rupee, forex traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, rupee opened at ₹77.81 and witnessed an intra-day high of ₹77.79 and a low of ₹77.87 against the US dollar.
Rupee finally settled at its all-time low of ₹77.85, down 11 paise over its previous close of ₹77.74.
“The Indian rupee dropped to a record low amid risk-averse sentiment, weaker macro data and a stronger dollar index. The rupee marked the new record low of ₹77.8725 as the central bank remains aside from intervening while importers rush for dollars,” said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.
Parmar further noted that the global central banks’ overriding need to fight inflation with higher interest rates remains a headwind for risk assets and favours the dollar bulls.
“On the domestic front, spot USD-INR is expected to consolidate in the range of ₹77.50 to ₹78.30 with a bullish bias,” he said.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.20% to 103.43.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced 0.51% to $123.70 per barrel.
On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 1,016.84 points or 1.84% lower at 54,303.44, while the broader NSE Nifty tanked 276.30 points or 1.68%t to 16,201.80.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth ₹1,512.64 crore, as per stock exchange data.
