Indian rupee slumps 23 paise to 64.30 in late morning deals

The rupee fell by 23 paise to hover near one-and-a-half-month low at 64.30 against the US currency in late morning on sustained bouts of dollar demand from importers and banks amid sell-off in local equities.

The rupee opened sharply lower at 64.35 per dollar as against yesterday's closing level of 64.07 at the inter-bank foreign exchange here.

It plunged further to 64.40 taking cues from weak domestic equities reacting to global sell-off. The benchmark Sensex fell over 1,200 points in early trade.

The Indian unit were trading between 64.40 and 64.30 per dollar during morning deals.

The US dollar stood tall against its major rivals in early Asian trade as a rout in global equities prompted anxious investors to cut exposure to riskier assets and seek shelter in the relative safety of the greenback.

The 30-share BSE Sensex slumped by 1,012.67 points or 2.91 per cent at 33,744.49 at 1105 hrs.