The partially convertible currency opened at 63.23 a dollar and fell to 63.59 in the afternoon trade. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/Mint Mumbai: The Indian rupee continued to slide against the dollar, falling to over three-and-a-half-month low against dollar, as foreign investors liquidated their positions in the local equities. Other Asian currencies, however, gained as dollar gave up some of its strength. At 2.20pm, the rupee was trading at 63.58 a dollar, down 0.41% from its previous close of 62.32. This is the lowest level for the rupee since 5 January. The partially convertible currency opened at 63.23 a dollar and fell to 63.59 in the afternoon trade. Sensex, the benchmark equity index of BSE, lost 0.5%, or 139.09 points, to 27,595.93 points. According to Samir Lodha, managing director at QuantArt Market Solutions, a currency consultant, most of the capital flows that has come to India because of the attractive interest rate differential between developed countries and India, are largely unhedged. So, at the time of liquidation, there are more buyers of dollars than sellers that put pressure to the local exchange rate. That is what the Indian rupee is experiencing now. Since January this year, the rupee has lost 0.86%. At the time of filing the story, Malaysian ringgit gained 1.229%, Taiwan dollar 0.860%, Singapore dollar 0.337%, South Korean won 0.243%, Indonesian rupiah 0.224%, and Philippine peso 0.102%. Meanwhile, the Thai baht lost 0.218% and Hong Kong dollar declined 0.003%. The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 96.904, down 0.38% from the previous close of 97.278 The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond was trading up at 7.78%, from previous close of 7.75%.

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