Rupee Hits All-Time Low of 60
The rupee on Thursday plunged by a whopping
130 paise to hit life-time low of 60 against the US
dollar in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange on strong demand for
the American currency from banks and importers.
Besides, dollar's strength against major
currencies overseas on comments by Federal Reserve chairmanBen
Bernanke
that the central bank may scale back its
monetary stimulus programme later this year weighed on the domestic unit,
dealers said.
They
said weak domestic fundamentals such as record current account deficit and high
inflation concerns too put pressure on the rupee.
The
rupee had earlier hit its all-time intra-day low of Rs
58.98 on June 11.
The
rupee had gained 7 paise to close at Rs 58.70 against the dollar in the previous session on the
back of recovery in stocks and fresh dollar selling by exporters.
Meanwhile,
the BSE benchmark sensex dipped below 19,000 level by plunging 423.05 points, or 2.19 per cent, to
18,822.65 in early trade.
The dollar
rose to its highest in more than a week against the yen before U.S. housing and
manufacturing data that may add to the case for reduced monetary stimulus as
flagged on 19 June by the Federal Reserve.
The Dollar
Index gained for a second day after Fed ChairmanBen
S. Bernanke said the central bank could reduce its bond buying this year and
end it in 2014 if the economy achieves sustainable growth. Australia’s dollar
touched its weakest level since 2010 after data showed China’s manufacturing is
contracting. India’s rupee slid to a record and South Korea’s won declined to
the lowest in 11 months.
The dollar
rose 0.7 percent to 97.08 yen as of 6:35 a.m. in
London from 19 June, after advancing to 97.18, the highest since June 11. It
gained 0.4 percent to $1.3248 per euro following a
0.7 percent advance. Japan’s currency declined 0.3 percent to 128.58 per euro.
The Dollar
Index, which Intercontinental Exchange Inc. uses to monitor the greenback
against the currencies of six U.S. trade partners, gained 0.2 percent to 81.617.