Rupee falls 10 paise to 83.79 against dollar

Mumbai: Rupee depreciated 10 paise to settle at 83.79 against the US dollar on Monday, taking cues from equity markets that saw a steep fall of over 1 per cent amid volatile crude oil prices and outflow of foreign funds.

However, a weak greenback against major currencies supported the local unit, forex traders said, while investors showed muted participation awaiting cues from domestic macroeconomic data to be released this week.

At the same time, they said, monetary and fiscal stimulus announced by China triggered withdrawal of foreign funds as investors preferred better-performing Chinese markets.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the local unit opened at 83.72 and hit the intra-day low of 83.81 against the greenback during the session.

The unit finally settled at 83.79 against dollar, registering a loss of 10 paise from its previous closing level.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.12 per cent to 99.99.

Meanwhile, India’s forex reserves jumped by $2.838 billion to a new all-time high of $692.296 billion for the week ended September 20, the Reserve Bank of India said on Friday.

The overall kitty had increased by $223 million to a new high of $689.458 billion for the previous reporting week.