The Indian rupee opened at a fresh record low and was trading just 10 paise away from hitting the 73-mark against the US dollar following advances in international crude oil prices and tracking losses in emerging currencies market. At 9.15am, the rupee was trading at 72.89 a dollar, down 0.25% from its Tuesday’s close of 72.70. The home currency opened at 72.75 per dollar and touched a low of 72.90.
“It thus appears that the global factors have had a more important role to play for the depreciation of the rupee rather than the domestic factors like widening current account deficit, foreign investment outflows, rising inflation due to elevated crude oil prices”, said Care Ratings in a note to its investors.
So far this year, the rupee has weakened 12.3%, while foreign investors have sold $538.20 million and $6.38 billion in equity and debt markets, respectively. Benchmark Sensex Index rose 0.35% or 131.36 points to 37,544.49. Since January, it has gained 9.86%. The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 95.154, down 0.1% from its previous close of 95.249.
