Rs plunges 60 paise to record 83 for first time against dollar

Mumbai: The rupee plunged by 60 paise to record low levels of 83 for the first time against the US dollar on Wednesday amid unabated foreign capital outflows and a strong dollar in the overseas markets.

Besides, rising crude prices in the international markets and risk-averse sentiment among investors weighed on the local currency, traders said.

The rupee had moved in a narrow range in the past three sessions on dollar selling by PSU lenders possibly on behalf of the RBI for curbing volatility and the US dollar index hovering near 112 level.

However, the dollar index breached the 112.55 level on Wednesday while US Treasury yields surged to a 14-year high, triggering a panic selling in the rupee, according to traders.

Major global currencies also took a hit with the greenback hitting a 32-year high against the Japanese yen and approaching the historic level of 150. The Euro declined 0.8 per cent while the British pound fell by 0.6 per cent against the US dollar on Wednesday.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened strong at 82.32 but later pared gains to hit an all-time trading low of 83.01 against the American currency.

The rupee finally settled at a record low of 83.00, showing net loss of 60 paise — its sharpest single day loss since September 22. In the previous session on Tuesday, the rupee slipped 10 paise to end at 82.40 against the dollar.

The rupee slid by nearly 2 per cent or 160 paise this month to hit the record low of 83 level due to a surging dollar. The local unit had breached the 82 mark on October 6.

On the domestic equity market front, benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed higher on Wednesday, marking their fourth straight session of gains on the back of buying in index majors Reliance Industries and HDFC twins.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose by 146.59 points or 0.25 per cent to settle at 59,107.19 even as 11 of its constituents gained while 19 declined. During the day, it rallied 439.09 points or 0.74 per cent to 59,399.69.

The broader NSE Nifty advanced 25.30 points or 0.14 per cent to end at 17,512.25 with 18 of its stocks ending higher and 32 closing lower.

Heavy buying in HDFC, Reliance Industries and Nestle helped indices close higher for a fourth straight session. Sensex and Nifty gained more than 3 per cent in the four-day rally.

From the Sensex pack, HDFC rose the most by 2.13 per cent. Nestle rose by 1.91 per cent, Reliance Industries by 1.88 per cent, ITC by 1.79 per cent, HDFC Bank by 1.02 per cent and UltraTech Cement by 0.89 per cent.

IT, pharma and most of the banking stocks succumbed to selling pressure.

NTPC fell the most by 1.77 per cent while State Bank of India declined 1.64 per cent, and Bajaj Finserv by 1.56 per cent. HCL Technologies, Dr Reddy's, Infosys and Maruti were among the laggards.

Most sectors traded in line with the move and ended flat to marginal in the green. The broader indices too witnessed a similar trend.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge ended marginally higher by 0.13 per cent and smallcap index dipped 0.03 per cent.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, services climbed 0.46 per cent, energy by 0.45 per cent, FMCG (0.42 per cent), realty (0.38 per cent) and financial services (0.32 per cent).

However, utilities, power, teck, metal, IT and commodities fell by up to 1.61 per cent.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.72 per cent higher at $90.54 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market on Tuesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 153.40 crore, as per exchange data.