Rupee To Hit Fresh All-Time Low? Trades Lower At 83.32 Against US Dollar in Early Session

The rupee on Monday depreciated 4 paise to 83.32 against the US dollar in the morning session, following a negative trend in domestic equities. Persistent foreign fund outflows also weighed on the local unit, forex traders said.

The fall comes after the local currency first touched its fresh all-time low of Rs 83.33 on Thursday, and then hit its new all-time low of 83.49 during intraday on Friday. Finally, on Friday, the rupee settled at 83.28 against the American currency.

On Monday, November 13, on the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 83.31 against the dollar. It touched a low of 83.32 in initial deals, registering a fall of 4 paise over its previous close.

Anil Kumar Bhansali, head (treasury) and executive director of Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said, “Today is generally a holiday due to the Indian new year and volumes will be low. Let’s see whether the RBI allows a movement beyond 83.30 today or not. Overall, the demand is good enough for the rupee to possibly weaken with the RBI being the only one supplying dollars and the rest of the inflows getting absorbed by the demand. Tomorrow is again an Indian holiday.”

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading at 105.82, lower by 0.04 per cent.

India Forex And Asset Management Pvt Ltd (IFA Global) in a research note said, “We expect the RBI to intervene to bring it within the 83.20-83.30 range. We otherwise expect a range-bound session with volumes being low on account of the festive season.”

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures declined 0.93 per cent to USD 80.67 per barrel. On the domestic equity market front, BSE Sensex was trading 262.56 points or 0.40 per cent lower at 64,996.89 points, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 70.55 points or 0.36 per cent to 19,455.00 points.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Friday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 190.06 crore, according to exchange data. India’s forex reserves jumped by USD 4.672 billion to USD 590.783 for the week ended November 3, the Reserve Bank said on Friday.

Foreign currency assets, a crucial part of the reserves, rose by USD 4.392 billion, as per the central bank.

(With PTI Inputs)