Rupee Hits New All-Time Low, Closes Mildly Higher Against Dollar: 10 Points

INR Vs USD: The rupee is down around 16% against the dollar so far this year

Sharp losses early in the day came amid a heavy selloff across global markets, however a drop in crude oil prices and a weakening dollar overseas supported the rupee in the second half of the session.
A 3 per cent fall on Wall Street overnight triggered a slump in Asian and European markets.
Domestic stock markets finished the session with a loss of 2.2 per cent, with the Sensex declining 759 points to end at 34,001, and the Nifty settling 225 points lower at at 10,234. That marked the lowest closing levels for the key indices in past six months.
"The risk sentiment soured overnight on worries of escalating trade tensions between US and China," said IFA Global, a forex advisory firm.
Analysts expect the rupee to continue to trade under pressure against the dollar citing multiple factors.
"As long as trade war continues between US and China, it can keep global trade growth subdued, thereby adversely affecting emerging market currencies like rupee... If oil prices come-off sharply, due to improvement in supply scenario, it will be beneficial for rupee," said Anindya Banerjee, AVP-currency derivatives at Kotak Securities.
Brent - the global benchmark for crude oil - declined 1.9 per cent to trade below the $82 a barrel mark. "Oil prices declined in expectation of increased production and if this trend continues, the rupee may find some stability," said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.
The rupee started hitting a series of record lows in late July and moved in a range of 68.26-71.01 per dollar in August.
Ms Banerjee of Kotak Securities said she expects the rupee to find strong support around 76 against the greenback. "It is hard to predict a bottom for a currency," she said.
Analysts will watch crude oil prices, and developments on the trade war and the US interest rate fronts closely going forward.

(With agency inputs)