Rs falls 55 paise to all-time low of 82.17 against dollar

Mumbai: The rupee plunged by 55 paise to close at an all-time low of 82.17 against the US currency on Thursday due to a stronger dollar in overseas markets and firm crude oil prices.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened on a positive note at 81.52, but pared all the gains later as the dollar extended gains.

During the day, the local unit witnessed an intra-day high of 81.51 and a low of 82.17 against the greenback. The rupee finally settled at the day's lowest level of 82.17, showing a loss of 55 paise over the previous close.

On Tuesday, the rupee appreciated by 20 paise to end at 81.62 against the US dollar.

"Rupee, after appreciating marginally on Tuesday, is again starting to come under pressure. The dollar strengthened after services PMI and private payrolls numbers from the US came in better than estimates," said Gaurang Somaiya, Forex & Bullion Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Major crosses euro and pound continued to witness selling pressure at higher levels. The focus will be on the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting minutes, Somaiya said.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, advanced 0.06 per cent to 111.27.

On the domestic equity market front, benchmark BSE Sensex rose by 156 points while the Nifty closed above the 17,300 level on Thursday after gains in metal, IT and capital goods shares amid foreign capital inflows.

Rising for the second straight session, the 30-share BSE benchmark advanced 156.63 points or 0.27 per cent to settle at 58,222.10. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty advanced 57.50 points or 0.33 per cent to end at 17,331.80 as 27 of its shares ended in the green.

Among Sensex shares, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro, ICICI Bank, HCL Technologies, Infosys and Axis Bank were among the winners.

However, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever, IndusInd Bank, HDFC and Bajaj Finance were among the laggards.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge jumped 1.30 per cent and midcap index climbed 1.13 per cent.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, metal jumped 3.89 per cent, capital goods (2.34 per cent), realty (2.15 per cent), industrials (1.96 per cent), commodities (1.67 per cent) and power (1.61 per cent).

FMCG and telecommunication were the laggards.

In the previous session on Tuesday, the BSE benchmark had jumped 1,276.66 points or 2.25 per cent to settle at 58,065.47. The Nifty rallied 386.95 points or 2.29 per cent to end at 17,274.30.

Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude futures climbed 0.14 per cent to 93.50 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers as they bought shares worth Rs 1,344.63 crore on Tuesday, according to data available with BSE.