Rupee hits fresh lifetime low of 79.55 against US dollar today
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The Indian rupee has continued its downward spiral on Tuesday.
The rupee fell to a lifetime low of 79.58 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday as continued foreign portfolio outflows from domestic stockmarkets and a broadly stronger greenback weighed on the currency despite intermittent dollar selling intervention, PTI reported.
The currency has declined over 6 per cent since the starting of this year. Rising dollar and widening trade deficit, decline in the foreign exchange reserves, persistent Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) outflow, and higher global energy prices have kept the currency under pressure.
On the interbank forex market on Tuesday, the rupee opened 13 paise lower at 79.58 against the US dollar. This came after the rupee ended at a record closing low against the US dollar on Monday.
The partially convertible rupee closed trading at 79.4375/4475 per dollar in the local session, compared to its close of 79.25 on Friday. The unit touched a lifetime low of 79.44 during the session, surpassing its previous low of 79.3750 touched last week.
On the domestic equity front, sensex fell 0.41 per cent or 220.54 points to 54,174.69, nifty was down 0.47 per cent or 76.60 points to 16,139.40.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced an array of measures last Wednesday to bring in dollars, including allowing overseas investors to buy short-term corporate debt and opening up more government securities under the fully accessible route.