After a brief pause, the rupee today fell by 13 paise to end at 64.04 against the US currency on strong month-end dollar demand from importers.
Stronger dollar sentiment overseas against the backdrop of Federal Reserve’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged predominantly pressurised the local unit, a forex dealer commented.
Consistent unwinding by foreign investors from Indian equities and debt markets, too, weighed on the rupee.
The dollar hit multi-year highs against all other Asian currencies amid expectations of rate hike at its September policy meet and also US second-quarter growth data later in the day.
The rupee resumed marginally higher at 63.93 per dollar against yesterday’s closing level of 63.91 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market supported by mild dollar selling as well as firm equities.
However, the local currency turned weak following good dollar demand from state banks, most likely on behalf of their institutional clients to hit a fresh intra-day low of 64.04, before ending down by 13 paise, or 0.20 per cent, at 64.04.
It briefly touched a high of 63.92 during the trade.
The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up by 0.31 per cent at 97.52.
Meanwhile, Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 186.24 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
The benchmark Sensex rallied by 141.93 points to end at 27,705.35.
Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity Group CEO, said, “The rupee traded weak today taking cues from strong dollar at USD 97.33 which is heading towards to post its third daily gain in a row. It traded in a thin range but eventually depreciated by over 14 paise for the day to close down at 64.04.”
Most Asian currencies traded weak against the dollar as it continues to trade higher ahead of the release of US GDP data due for the day which is expected to show growth, he added.
The trading range for the Spot USD/INR pair is expected to be within 63.70 to 64.40.
In the forward market, the premium for dollar declined further on sustained receivings from exporters.
The benchmark six-month premium payable in December moved down further to 184-186 paise from 189-191 paise yesterday while, far-forward contracts maturing in June 2016 also eased to 411-413 paise from 417-419 paise.
The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 64.0061 and for the Euro at 70.0739.
The rupee fell further against the pound sterling to close at 100.10 from 99.94 yesterday and recovered against the euro to 70.18 from 70.58.
It recouped against the Japanese currency to 51.49 per 100 yen from 51.67 previously.
