Rupee falls 8 paise to 89.98 against dollar

Mumbai: The rupee depreciated by 8 paise to close at 89.98 against the US dollar on Monday, weighed down by foreign fund outflows and a negative trend in domestic equities.

Forex traders said persistent capital withdrawals from foreign investors, alongside heightened dollar demand from importers, dented investor sentiments.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the local unit opened at 89.95 against the dollar and touched an intra-day low of 89.99 and a high of 89.88.

At the end of Monday’s trading session, the rupee setteled at 89.98 against the greenback, lower by 8 paise.

On Friday, the rupee depreciated 19 paise to 89.90 against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading marginally higher by 0.02 per cent at 98.03, as most markets are in a holiday mood and trading volumes are thin, limiting big moves and keeping the DXY range-bound.

Meanwhile, India’s forex reserves jumped $4.368 billion to $693.318 billion during the week ended December 19, the RBI said on Friday. The overall kitty had increased $1.689 billion to $688.949 billion in the previous week.