According to FX dealers, ongoing withdrawals of foreign funds and high crude oil prices further dampened investor morale.
Mumbai: The rupee lost 42 paise to 82.50 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday as a result of the strong US dollar and a flat local equity market.
According to FX dealers, ongoing withdrawals of foreign funds and high crude oil prices further dampened investor morale.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the local unit started out weakly versus the dollar at 82.35 before dropping to 82.50 and losing 42 paise from its previous level.
The rupee’s value versus the US dollar was fixed at 82.08 at the previous session on Friday.
The dollar index, which measures the strength of the dollar against a basket of six different currencies, increased 0.17 percent to 103.09.
The benchmark for world oil, Brent crude futures, increased 0.25 percent to USD 80.14 a barrel.
According to Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities, the rupee started this Monday’s trading session on a lower note versus the dollar after a better-than-expected US employment data encouraged investors to bet on further Federal Reserve rate rises.
As retail inflation is beginning to moderate and the US Fed is slowing the rate of increase in its benchmark interest rate, the Reserve Bank is expected to opt for a modest 25 basis point repo rate increase in its upcoming bi-monthly monetary policy announcement anticipated later this week.
The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 242.95 points, or 0.40 percent, at 60,598.93 on the domestic equities market. The NSE Nifty, which is more inclusive, dropped 100.20 points or 0.56 percent to 17,753.85.
According to exchange statistics, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 932.44 crore on Friday, making them net sellers in the capital markets.
