Fears of further slide in local stocks amid increased capital outflows due to global unrest kept the rupee under pressure throughout the day to end at an
all-time low of 54.49/50 against the greenback, down by a whopping 70 paise.
Dollar demand from importers amid strong dollar overseas also aided the rupee sentiment but
alleged intervention by the central bank could not able to stem the fall in the rupee, a forex dealer said.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestc unit opened sharply lower at 54.10/11 against previous close of 53.79/80 and immediately touched a high of 54.04.
Later, it continued its downward march to an historic intra-day low of 54.52 before settling at 54.49/50, showing a steep fall of 1.30 per cent.
The Indian benchmark sensex today slumped by 298.16 points or 1.83 per cent on global turmoil due to euro-zone problems as
Greece failed to form a government, setting for another fresh election in June that could raise the risk of Athens abandoning the euro.
FIIs pulled out $25.24 million yesterday as per Sebi data while dollar was quoting up by 0.15 per cent in Europe on Wednesday.
Mr. Pramit Brahmbhatt, CEO, Alpari Financial Services (India) said,"The INR surpassed its historical lows for new lows as of today's session on rising dollar index due to global risk aversion. The Indian equities markets hit to their 18 weeks low imported weakness from global markets which witnessed the INR plummeting for new lows."
With PTI inputs 
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