Mumbai: The rupee plunged by 32 paise to close at a more than one-week low of 73.42 against the US currency on Tuesday due to dollar buying by corporates and importers and the greenback’s gain in overseas markets.
The rupee mirrored losses in most Asian and emerging market currencies while forex outflows also weighed on the unit, analysts said.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened lower at 73.12 and dropped to a day’s low of 73.44 later. The domestic unit finally settled at 73.42, its lowest closing level since August 27. On Monday, the local unit settled at 73.10 against the greenback.
The rupee depreciated against the US dollar due to dollar buying by importers and an uptick in the dollar index, Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities said.
The unit fell 0.4 per cent on Tuesday, its biggest single-session fall since June 19. Meanwhile, most of the EM and Asian currencies were weak on Tuesday and weighed on sentiments, Iyer said.
Anindya Banerjee, DVP, Currency Derivatives & Interest Rate Derivatives at Kotak Securities Ltd attributed the large corporate demand for dollar to the rupee’s fall.
“A strong US Dollar Index is also aiding the weakness in the rupee. However, upside remains capped thanks to exporter selling. —PTI

Press Trust of India