The rupee depreciated 12 paise to 74.93 against the U.S. dollar in opening trade on August 3 tracking negative domestic equities and strengthening American currency.
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The rupee opened on a weak note at 74.91 at the interbank forex market, then lost further ground and touched 74.93 against U.S. dollar, down 12 paise over its last close.
It had settled at 74.81 against the U.S. dollar on July 31.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.08% to 93.42.
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Forex traders said foreign fund outflow, strong dollar, muted domestic equities and rising COVID-19 cases dragged the local unit down.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 414.31 points lower at 37,192.58 and broader NSE Nifty fell 105.55 points to 10,967.90.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth ₹958.64 crore on July 31, according to provisional exchange data.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.34% to $43.37 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the number of cases around the world linked to COVID-19 has crossed 1.80 crore and in India, the number of infections topped the 18-lakh mark.