Rupee falls 39 paise to fresh all-time low of 82.69 against U.S. dollar in early trade

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• Oct 10, 2022 | Dhupali Das

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 82.68 against the greenback, then slipped further to 82.69...

Digital Desk: The rupee fell 39 paise to an all-time low of 82.69 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, as rising crude oil prices and risk-averse investor sentiment weighed on the local unit.

Furthermore, a downward trend in domestic shares and a strong US dollar dampened investor enthusiasm, forex traders said. 

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 82.68 against the greenback, then slipped further to 82.69, registering a fall of 39 paise over its previous close.

On Friday, the rupee fell a further 13 paise to a new lifetime low of 82.30 against the dollar.

"The double whammy of higher US rates and higher crude prices is back to haunt the rupee. While the RBI was able to defend the rupee successfully through the last round of simultaneous stress on current and capital accounts by spending its reserves, this time around things are likely to be different," IFA Global Research Academy said in a note.

The Reserve Bank of India said on Friday that India's foreign reserves fell by USD 4.854 billion to USD 532.664 billion as of September 30.

The reserves, which have been declining as the central bank uses the funds to safeguard the rupee against pressures mostly generated by global developments, fell by more than USD 8.134 billion to USD 537.518 billion in the previous reporting week.

"After having exhausted a significant portion of its reserves, RBI seems concerned about the burn rate of reserves and appears to be spending them very judiciously. This has resulted in the rupee adjusting and aligning itself with fundamentals and its peer group currencies," IFA Global Research Academy’s note said.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the US currency's strength against a basket of six currencies, was up 0.02 percent at 112.81.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.87 percent to USD 97.07 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 646.25 points, or 1.11 percent lower, at 57,545.04, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 192.10 points, or 1.11 percent, to 17,122.55.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Friday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,250.77 crore, as per exchange data.