The Rupee tumbled 41 paise to 69.20 against the U.S. Dollar in early trade on August 1 amid unabated foreign fund outflows and rising crude oil prices.
Forex traders strengthening of the greenback vis-a-vis other currencies overseas and cautious opening in domestic equities weighed on the local unit. Forex traders said though the U.S. Federal Reserve cut the benchmark lending rate on Wednesday for the first time in more than a decade, market participants reacted to Fed Chair Jerome Powell statement which indicated dampened hopes of further rate cut.
The Rupee opened weak at 69.17 at the interbank forex market and slipped further to 69.20, showing a decline of 41 paise against its previous close. The domestic unit had settled at 68.79 against the U.S. Dollar on July 31.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital markets, pulling out ₹1,497.07 crore on July 31, provisional data with the exchanges showed.
The 30-share index was trading 205.69 points or 0.55% lower at 37,275.43; and the broader Nifty fell 16.15 points or 0.44% to 11,069.25. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, inched up 0.35% to 98.85. Meanwhile, the government’s fiscal deficit touched ₹4.32 lakh crore for the June quarter, which is 61.4 % of the budget estimate for 2019-20 fiscal.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, climbed 0.70% to $65.17 per barrel. The 10-year government bond yield was at 6.40% in morning trade.
