The Indian rupee continued its downslide for the third straight session, falling by six paise to close at almost six-week low of 62.47 against the US dollar, following bearish local equities amid
sustained dollar demand from importers.
Almost flat dollar index overseas against a basket of major global rivals ahead of US jobs data could not give direction to either side. The dollar index was up by a mere 0.02 per cent.
However, sustained capital inflows restricted the rupee fall to some extent, a forex dealer said.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local unit
commenced sharply lower at 62.65 a dollar from last close of 62.41 and dropped further to a low of 62.75 on fall in domestic stocks amid heavy dollar demand from importers. Later, it recovered on late dollar selling by exporters and continued foreign funds inflows in equities to a high of 62.46 before closing at 62.47, still showing a fall of six paise or 0.10 per cent.
The rupee has now plunged by 85 paise, or 1.38 per cent, in three days.
"On a weekly basis, rupee has depreciated for the fourth week in a row and is expected to depreciate further in coming days due to the
country's external deficit and the impact of a possible tapering in the US Federal Reserve stimulus programme. The trading range for the spot USD/INR pair is expected to be within 62.20 to 63.00," Pramit Brahmbhatt, CEO, Alpari Financial Services (India), said.
Meanwhile, the
BSE Sensex dipped by 156.62 points, or 0.75 per cent, on Friday even as FIIs picked up shares worth Rs 479.24 crore on Thursday.
With inputs from PTI