Mumbai: The rupee fell 12 paise to close at 88.28 against the US dollar on Monday, as investors weighed Trump’s H-1B visa fee hike impact on Indian remittances amid heightened risk-averse sentiment.
Forex traders said the recent hike in H-1B visa fees could contribute to equity outflows from the Indian IT sector in the near term, and could also exert pressure on the Indian rupee.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 88.20, then touched an intra-day low of 88.34 and a high of 88.12 against the greenback.
The domestic unit finally settled at 88.28, lower by 12 paise over its previous close.
On Friday, the rupee appreciated four paise to close at 88.16 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.12 per cent to 97.52.
India’s forex reserves jumped $4.698 billion to $702.966 billion for the week ended September 12, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday.
In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had increased $4.038 billion to $698.268 billion. PTI