The rupee closed at 62.51 a dollar compared to its previous close of 62.07 on Thursday. It touched a low of 62.56 and a high of 61.76 intra-day.
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 30-share Sensitive Index (Sensex) lost 166.58 points or 0.84 per cent to close at 19727.27.
Except fast moving consumer goods, oil & gas and information technology, all other sectoral indices ended in the negative territory with banks leading the pack followed by metal, realty, capital goods and power. Small-cap stocks gained by 0.31 per cent. On the National Stock Exchange, the 50-share Nifty closed at 5833.20 with a loss of 49.05 points 0.83 per cent.
“Selling pressure was witnessed, specially in banking stocks after the Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said that the RBI was still worried about high inflation”, said Amar Ambani, Head of Research, India Infoline.