Crashes by yet another 72p to hit record closing low of 72.45 per $ ... Shaves 467 point off Sensex, 151 points off Nifty to three-week lows

MUMBAI: The rupee Monday crashed below the 72-mark to end at a life-low of 72.45 against the US dollar on growing fears of contagion from an emergingmarket rout and escalation of global trade war.

Heavy speculative dol

lar demand along with panic among importers sent the domestic currency tumbling by a sharp 94 paise to hit a historic low of 72.67 in mid-morning trade, triggering the central bank intervention to defend the currency.

It finished the day 72 paise

lower against the American currency - its biggest one-day crash since August 13.

After a short-lived recovery, forex market sentiment once again turned volatile after US President Donald Trump decided to raise the economic and financial stakes of the global trade war on Friday.

Adding to the fundamental stress, Trump also announced that the US administration was considering another $267 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports.

The rupee had recovered on Friday to close 26 paise higher after a seven straightday decline.

Widespread concerns about the country's growing trade deficit as well as short-term debt

liabilities and protectionist tendencies on the global front

largely weighed on forex front, currency dealers said.

Besides, rising oil prices and the weakening currency have already impacted the sentiment here.

India's current account deficit (CAD) as a percentage of GDP declined marginally to 2.4 per cent in the April-june quarter of 2018-19 against 2.5 per cent in the year-ago.

Strong portfolio outflows along side RBI'S dollar sales to contain sharp rupee depreciation, resulted in depletion of foreign exchange (forex) reserves to $400.101 billion in the week to August 31, a RBI data showed.

India's biggest jump in foreign-exchange reserves in the last few years helped the nation to support the rupee.

India's benchmark 10-year sovereign yield plunged 13 basis points to 8.16 per cent.

Emerging market currencies and global stocks slumped as the dampened sentiments gripped the markets.

Crude prices rose as investors anticipated lower supply once the new US sanctions against Iran's crude exports kick in from November.

Benchmark Brent crude oil was up $77.22 a barrel in early Asian trade. The country registered a robust 8.2 per cent growth in the April to June quarter. MUMBAI: Stock markets tanked more than 1 per cent to close at three-week low levels Monday following a global slide in equities due to trade war concerns which also dragged the rupee to a record

low of 72.67 in day trade. The benchmark 30-share BSE Sensex closed at a threeweek low of 37,922.17, down by 467.65 points or 1.22 per cent, which was its biggest single-day fall since March 16 when it lost 509.54 points.

The 50-share NSE Nifty also dropped below the 11,500-level by plunging 151 points or 1.30 per cent — its biggest singleday fall since February 6 — to close at 11,438.10, the lowest closing since August 16. Intraday, it hit a low of 11,427.30.

Negative leads from global markets as investors turned cautious amid fears of a possible escalation in the Us-china trade conflict hit the market sentiment.

Surging crude oil prices globally too had a rub-off effect on Indian stocks and rupee, market analysts said.

Meanwhile, India's current account deficit (CAD) widened to $15.8 billion in April-june this year as against $15 billion in the same quarter of 2017-18 in value terms, mainly due to a higher trade deficit, according to RBI data released Friday.

Sun Pharma continued its slide and emerged as the worst performer among Sensex constituents by dipping 3.72 per cent.