The Indian rupee tumbled to a record low of 77.82 against the US dollar in opening trade on Friday during the intra-day trades.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened on a weak note at 77.81 against the American dollar, before ending the session at 77.82.
On Thursday, the rupee fell by 6 paise to close at 77.74 against the US dollar. The previous low of 77.79 was touched on May 17.
It is being said that a spurt in the global price of Brent crude to over $124 per barrel might have caused the Indian currency to depreciate as even a slight rise in crude prices could severely impact India’s current account deficit.
According to Reuters, which has quoted traders, the rupee could weaken towards 79/dollar levels by end of fiscal year 2022/23 but the fall could be accelerated by firm crude oil prices.
India imports nearly 85 per cent of its oil requirements and high crude tends to push up domestic inflation while also widening the country’s trade and current account deficits.
Indian shares continued to incur losses to a fifth session as investors worried that aggressive policy tightening by central banks could stifle global economic growth.
RBI raised its key repo rate by 50 basis points on Wednesday.
Foreign funds have sold stocks worth more than $23 billion so far in 2022 while they are net sellers of $2.1 billion in debt.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.66 per cent to USD 122.26 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.04 per cent lower at 103.17.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 620.68 points or 1.12 per cent lower at 54,699.60, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 165.30 points or 1 per cent to 16,312.80.
(With inputs from agencies)
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