Rupee falls 18 paise, closes at all-time low of 79.03 vs dollar

Equity benchmarks halt four-day winning run as Sensex down 150 points, Nifty falls below 15,800

MUMBAI: The rupee depreciated 18 paise to close at a record low of 79.03 against the US dollar on Wednesday, weighed down by persistent foreign capital outflows, a strong dollar overseas and surge in crude oil prices.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened lower at 78.86 against the greenback and finally settled at 79.03, down 18 paise over its previous close. During the session, the rupee touched an alltime low of 79.05 against the American currency.

On Tuesday, the rupee plunged by 48 paise to close at the record low of 78.85 against the US dollar.

The domestic unit has lost 1.97 per cent so far this month and has eroded a staggering 6.39 per cent since the start of this year.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.13 per cent higher at 104.64.

The sentiment remains feeble for the rupee amid foreign fund outflows and fear of dollar shortages following quantitative tightening from the US Federal Reserve.

In a volatile session, the 30-share BSE Sensex settled 150.48 points or 0.28 per cent lower at 53,026.97 as 20 of its stocks ended with losses. During the day, it tumbled 564.77 points or 1.06 per cent to a low of 52,612.68 ahead of the expiry in the derivatives segment on Thursday. Similarly, NSE Nifty declined by 51.10 points or 0.32 per cent to 15,799.10 with 34 of its constituents closing in the red.

In the four-day rally to Tuesday, Sensex spurted by 2.59 per cent or 1,354 points while Nifty had gained 2.84 per cent or 436 points.

Among Sensex shares, Hindustan Unilever fell the most by 3.46 per cent. IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Wipro, HCL Technologies, Titan, Kotak Mahindra

Bank and Bajaj Finance were the other major losers.

However, gains in NTPC, Reliance Industries, Sun Pharma, UltraTech Cement and ITC restricted a major fall in the barometer.

NTPC rose the most by 2.46 per cent while Reliance Industries advanced 1.98 per cent.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, bank fell by 1.20 per cent, while FMCG (1.01 per cent), finance (1 per cent), teck (0.83 per cent), and telecom (0.54 per cent) also declined. Energy, utilities, auto, metal, oil & gas, power and realty were the gainers. A total of 1,781 firms declined, while 1,521 advanced and 148 remained unchanged.