Rupee slips to 8-week low

Mumbai: The rupee on Monday slumped to its lowest level in nearly eight weeks, shedding 24 paise to close at 74.10 to the US dollar as participants turned cautious apprehending foreign fund outflows after hawkish comments from the US Federal Reserve. At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened weak at 74.20 against the American currency, pared some initial losses and finally closed at 74.10, showing a fall of 24 paise over its previous close. This was the lowest level seen by the local currency since April 28.

"The Indian rupee depreciated against the US dollar on Monday on broad greenback strength and worries of foreign fund outflows due to hawkish comments from the US Fed," said Sriram Iyer, senior research analyst at Reliance Securities.

The local unit witnessed an intra-day high of 74.08 and a low of 74.28 during the session. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.19 per cent to 92.04.

The unit had fallen to an intra-day low of 74.28, but trimmed losses on exporters' dollar sales, Iyer said, adding that "most regional currencies also weakened on Monday following the dollar's strength and weighed on prices". On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 230.01 points or 0.44 per cent higher at 52,574.46, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 63.15 points or 0.4 per cent to 15,746.50. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.16 per cent to USD 73.63 per barrel. Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 1,244.71 crore in the Indian capital market on Monday.