Mumbai: The Indian rupee weakened on increased dollar demand from banks and oil marketing companies, after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reduced its dollar swap facility to fuel retailers. A weak equity market also weighed on the sentiment. At 2.30 pm, the rupee was trading at 62.66 a dollar, down 0.39% from its previous close of 62.4150. The partially convertible currency opened at 62.7025 a dollar and slid as much as 62.7513 in the intra-day trade. Since January, the rupee has weakened 12.23% and is the second biggest loser in Asia after the Indonesian rupiah. RBI has cut about 30% of its direct dollar supply to oil marketing companies and, hence, the dollar demand is flowing into the market, thereby weakening the rupee. The daily requirement of the greenback is about $250 million for these oil companies. The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 80.876, up 0.04%. The yield on the 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 8.909%, up from its previous close of 8.851%. BSE’s benchmark Sensex fell 0.74% to 20,668.75 points.

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