Rupee falls to fresh low of 71.58 per US dollar

Mumbai : High crude oil prices and negative global cues pulled the Indian rupee to a new record low of 71.58 per US dollar on Tuesday.

It opened at 71.24 per US dollar surpassing the previous low of 71.21 per greenback, at which it had closed on Monday.

The Indian rupee closed at 71.58 per US dollar — the lowest ever mark — against the greenback at the Inter-Bank Foreign Exchange Market.

“Surge in oil prices, weakness in EM currencies, sell-off in local equity and debt pushed the rupee lower. Over the near term. we expect a range of 71 to 72.20 on spot,” Anindya Banerjee, Deputy Vice President for Currency and Interest Rates with Kotak Securities, told IANS.

According to Edelweiss Securities’ Head of Forex and Rates Sajal Gupta: “USD-INR market is overheated now… This may lead to some shallow corrections but trend firmly remains upwards.”

“Markets are looking at signals from RBI… in case 72 is breached and no major interventions happen… 73.50 is the next technical level that can be seen sooner than expected.”

Rushabh Maru — Research Analyst at Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers said: “RBI intervention is very less despite the fact that forex reserves are around $400 billion.”

“There are talks of out-of-the-monetary-policy interest rate hike by the RBI and issuance of NRI bond issue to raise dollar money. However, at present possibility of both the options is very low as the macroeconomic situation is much better than it was in 2013.”

In recent days, geo-political developments over trade protectionist measures along with high crude oil prices and an outflow of foreign funds from the equities market have pulled the Indian rupee to fresh record intra-day and closing lows.

Published on : Sep 04, 2018 at 22:11 IST

IANS