BLBG: Indian Rupee Falls as Stock Slide Adds to Fund-Outflow Concern
By Anil Varma
Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- India’s rupee fell for a third day as a worldwide equity rout added to speculation investors will increase sales of riskier emerging-market assets.
The currency dropped to near a record low as Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost as much as 5.7 percent after the benchmark U.S. share index fell the most in almost seven weeks yesterday. The rupee has lost 2.2 percent after terrorists attacked India’s financial hub of Mumbai on Nov. 26, killing at least 195 people over almost four days in the nation’s deadliest terrorist attacks in 15 years.
“The rupee continues to reflect the weakness across global stock markets,” said Amit Garg, a trader at state-owned Allahabad Bank in Mumbai. “The currency market will stay volatile because the sentiment is weak. We will see more losses in the rupee.”
The rupee weakened 0.4 percent to 50.50 per dollar as of 9:42 a.m. in Mumbai, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It fell as low as 50.545 earlier. Seven of the 10 most-traded Asian currencies outside Japan declined today.
Overseas investors sold more Indian shares than they bought for a third straight week in the five days ended Nov 28, data from the nation’s capital markets regulator showed. They sold Indian equities worth a record $13.6 billion more than they bought this year, data released by the Securities and Exchange Board of India show.
The rupee’s 22 percent loss this year is the third-biggest among Asian currencies, according to Bloomberg data. The currency may fall to a record low of 50.60 today, Garg said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Anil Varma in Mumbai at avarma3@bloomberg.net.