Rupee extends losses to 67.94, down 30 paise
Forex dealers said increased demand for the US currency from importers and dollar’s gains against other currencies overseas put pressure on the rupee.
Extending losses for the second straight day, the rupee on Monday dropped by another 30 paise to close at 67.94 per dollar on persistent demand for the American currency from banks and importers on the back of higher greenback overseas.
A fresh fall in equity market also affected the market sentiment, a forex dealer said.
The domestic unit resumed lower at 67.85 per dollar as against the last weekend’s level of 67.64 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market and dropped further to 67.96 before concluding at 67.94, disclosing a loss of 30 paise or 0.44%.
The rupee dropped by 39 paise or 0.58% in two days.
The dollar index was up by 0.12% against a basket of six currencies in the late afternoon trade.
In the Asian market, the dollar gained against the yen during in late afternoon trade, lifted by dip buying and an improvement in risk sentiment on the recovery by Tokyo stocks.
In New York, the dollar strengthened against the yen and the euro on last Friday after the Labor Department’s report on job gains in January, bets the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year.
Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity Financial Services said, “Despite positive cues from domestic equity market in the early trade, rupee opened on a negative note near 67.8 levels and continued to trade with negative bias. Fall in Nifty extended the loss in rupee below 67.8 levels. Our benchmark index Nifty closed with a loss of 102 points.
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