Mumbai: The rupee slumped 57 paise to close at 76.92 (provisional) against the US dollar Friday, weighed down by a strong American currency overseas and firm crude oil prices.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened lower at 76.61 against the greenback, and finally settled for the day at 76.92, down 57 paise over its previous close.
During the trading session, the rupee witnessed an intra-day high of 76.56 and a low of 76.96.
On Thursday, the rupee had closed at 76.35.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.30 per cent lower at 103.44.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures advanced 2.31 per cent to USD 113.46 per barrel.
The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 866.65 points or 1.56 per cent lower at 54,835.58, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 271.40 points or 1.63 per cent to 16,411.25.
“Rupee had a sweltering time today as it plunged around a percentage point following risk-off moods and surge in crude oil prices,” said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.
The dollar index touched a two-decade high of 104.06 and headed for the sixth consecutive weekly decline as market participants, pricing-in hawkish Federal Reserves, dumped equities and rushed for US Treasuries, Parmar added.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market Thursday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,074.74 crore, as per stock exchange data.
