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Rupee crosses 65-mark, drops 32 paise to hit new 3-month low against US dollar

The Indian rupee crossed the 65-mark dropping as much as 32 paise to hit a new three-month low against the US dollar on Thursday as the BSE Sensex plunged over 150 points in the morning deals.

Rupee crosses 65-mark, drops 32 paise to hit new 3-month low against US dollar

The Indian rupee crossed the 65-mark dropping as much as 32 paise to hit a new three-month low against the US dollar on Thursday as the BSE Sensex plunged over 150 points in the morning deals. The rupee saw a decline of 32 paise to a fresh three-month low 65.09 vs the US dollar at the interbank foreign exchange market on Thursday. The domestic currency has been under pressure since last week. From Thursday, the rupee had slipped about 118 paise against the US dollar with a major depreciation on Tuesday this week when it lost 58 paise to close at a three-month low. The Reserve Bank of India fixed a reference rate of 64.8161 against the US dollar on Wednesday. Earlier yesterday, the rupee made a slight recovery after falling 58 paise on Tuesday closing at 64.77 against the US dollar.

The dollar rose to a one-week high against a basket of major currencies on Thursday, after minutes of the Federal Reserve’s January meeting showed policymakers were more confident of the need to keep raising interest rates, Reuters said in a report. The dollar index edged up 0.1% to 90.099. Earlier, it climbed to 90.166, the highest level since 13 February. That lifted it about 2.2% from a three-year low near 88.25 plumbed last week, Reuters added. While on the other hand, oil was also trading lower on Thursday with the WTI crude dropping 1.07% to 61.02 while Brent crude tripped 0.83% to $64.88 per barrel.

The Reserve Bank of India in its sixth and last bi-monthly policy meeting in the financial year 2017-2018 kept the key policy rates unchanged for the third time in a row. The concerns of higher inflation on the back of rise in crude oil prices and fiscal slippages steered the central bank to leave the repo rates unchanged. Earlier yesterday, the minutes of the monetary policy meeting of the Reserve Bank of India was released. According to the minutes of the meeting, RBI governor Urjit Patel was worried over inflationary pressures and decided to keep policy rate on hold as the economic recovery was at a nascent stage.

Meanwhile today, Indian equities begin the day on a negative note with Sensex slipping over 150 points and Nifty tripping below 10,350 as shares of heavyweight companies such as HDFC Bank, HDFC, Reliance Industries, Maruti Suzuki and State Bank of India dragged. Shares of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries recovered some of its losses emerging as the top gainer among the Sensex components after yesterday’s rout. The benchmark Sensex lost as much as 153.3 points to hit the day’s low of 33,691.56 whereas the broader Nifty 50 fell below 10,350-level dropping 56.8 points to mark the day’s low at 10,340.65.

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First published on: 22-02-2018 at 10:41 IST
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