Mumbai, Nov 9: The rupee today crashed by a whopping 70 paise to settle at 30-month low of 50.17/18 against the US currency on strong dollar demand and Moody's downgrading Indian banking system which pulled down domestic equities.
Heavy dollar demand from importers, mainly oil refiners, and some banks weighed on the rupee, dealers said.
Downgrading of Indian banking system to ‘negative' from ‘stable' from global rating agency Moody's too had a sentimental impact on the market sentiment, they added.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market (Forex), the domestic unit opened better at 49.40/41 a dollar from last close of 49.47/48 and immediately touched a high of 49.39.
However, some negative factors pulled it down to below 50-mark to settle at 50.17/18 a dollar, displaying a steep fall of 70 paise or 1.41 per cent. Previously, it had settled at 50.51/52 a dollar on September 28, 2009.
The BSE benchmark index Sensex settled lower by 207 points or 1.18 per cent from its previous close.
“Looking at the strong dollar one can expect rupee to trade near 50.50 levels and the trading range for the USD/INR will be 49.80 to 50.30 on Friday,” Pramit Brahmbhatt, CEO, Alpari Financial Services (India) said.
Forex markets are closed tomorrow on account of ‘Guru Nanak Jayanti'.
The dollar index was up by over 1 per cent against a bakset of currencies while global crude oil was trading above USD 95 a barrle in European market today.
“Huge demand of dollar by large corporates and the rising concerns over Italy and Greece pushed the rupee down to 50 level,” Abhishek Goenka, CEO, India Forex Advisors said.
The rupee premium for the forward dollar remained weak on sustained receivings by exporters.
The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in April settled down at 101-103 paise from yesterday's close of 105-107 paise and far-forward contracts maturing in October also finished lower at 163-165 paise from 174-176 paise previously.
The RBI fixed the reference rate for the US dollar at Rs 49.7810 and for the euro at Rs 68.8169.
The rupee declined further against the pound sterling to end at Rs 80.09/11 from 79.52/54 yesterday and moved down to Rs 68.41/43 per euro from Rs 68.12/14 previously.
It, also dropped further against the Japanese yen at Rs 64.60/62 per 100 yen from last close of Rs 63.41/43.
