Rupee Hits All-Time Low: 83.64 Against US Dollar

Mumbai, Jul 18 (PTI) Rupee depreciated 6 paise and settled at its all-time low of 83.64 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday, as the strength of the American currency in the overseas market and overnight surge in crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiments.

Forex traders expect the rupee to trade with a slight negative bias on strong US dollar and weak Asian as well as European currencies. The US dollar strengthened, while the pound weakened amid disappointing labour market data from the UK.

However, positive domestic markets and foreign fund inflows cushioned the downside in the domestic unit to a certain extent.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.57, and touched an intraday high of 83.55 and a low of 83.66 against the dollar during the trading session.

It finally settled at 83.64 (provisional) against the American currency, registering a loss of 6 paise from its previous close.

On Tuesday, the rupee closed at 83.58 against the American currency. The rupee had witnessed its previous lowest closing level of 83.61 on July 15.

Forex and equity markets were closed on Wednesday on account of Muharram.

"A bounce back in crude oil prices may further pressurise the rupee. However, record high domestic equities and fresh foreign inflows may support the rupee at lower levels," said Anuj Choudhary – Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading higher by 0.09 per cent at 103.83.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, were trading marginally lower by 0.01 per cent at USD 85.07 per barrel.

In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 626.91 points to settle at its all-time high of 81,343.46, while Nifty surged 187.85 points to a record peak of 24,800.85 points.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital markets on Tuesday as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,271.45 crore, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday maintained India's GDP growth forecast at 7 per cent for the current financial year, citing that a rebound in agriculture is expected given above-normal monsoon projections.