Mumbai: The rupee fell to its lowest in more than a week on Tuesday, dragged by the euro’s slide, weakness in Asian peers and domestic equities.
At 10:19am, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs. 44.6525/6550 per dollar, 0.4% weaker than Monday’s close of 44.4750/4850.
“There is risk aversion across the world and the euro is taking a beating. This is what is pushing the rupee lower,” said a foreign exchange dealer at a private-sector bank.
The euro fell to a four-month low against the dollar and a record low against the Swiss franc after new IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said the fund is not yet ready to discuss conditions or terms of a second Greek bailout and that Italian economic growth had to improve to restore confidence.
The euro was at $1.3957 versus $1.4088 at the close of domestic forex trade on Monday, while the index of the dollar against six major currencies was up 0.37% at 76.278 points.
The rupee, which moved in a 44.5800-44.6550 range in early trade, could weaken to as much as 44.70, traders said.
Markets fell more than 1% after euro zone debt worries battered major markets in Asia.
The one-month onshore forward premium was at 23.75 points from 25.75 points on Monday, while the three-month was at 67.50 points from 70.25 and the one-year was at 224.25 points versus 234.75.
One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 44.82, weaker than the onshore spot rate.
In the currency futures market , the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange, the MCX-SX and the United Stock Exchange were all at 44.77. The total volume was at $2.10 billion.
