Rupee Plunges To All-Time Closing Low Of 70.59 Against Dollar

The rupee plunged by 49 paise against the dollar to close at 70.59 on Wednesday. That marked the steepest fall in the rupee against the greenback in about two weeks. Weakness in other Asian currencies and strong month-end demand for the dollar back home led the decline in the rupee. During Wednesday's session, the rupee shed as much as 55 paise to touch a lifetime low of 70.65 against the US dollar, but contained those losses to finish the session at 70.59.

Concerns on the current account deficit front weighed on the currency as crude oil prices rose, say analysts.

"With Brent oil moving up again, given our twin current account and trade deficits, Rs 70/dollar seems to be the new normal. With US consumer confidence index reaching its highest level since Oct 2000, we see dollar to continue to strengthen," Salil Datar, CEO and executive director, Essel Finance VKC Forex, told NDTV.

Mild gains were witnessed in crude oil prices Wednesday in anticipation of tightening Iranian supplies. Benchmark Brent crude oil around $76.15 a barrel. However, indication of a rise in US inventories limited the advances in crude oil prices.

Higher oil prices than in the last two years and rising interest rates are raising pressure on the government's budget and current account, although mitigated by robust GDP growth and other factors, Moody's Investors Service said in a note on Wednesday.

"Higher oil prices and interest rates will put pressure on the government's budget and the current account. However, growth prospects remain in line with the economy's potential, around 7.5 per cent this year and next," Moody's vice president and senior analyst Joy Rankothge said.

Government data earlier this month showed that India's trade deficit widened to a more-than-five-year high of $18.02 billion in July, driven largely by a surge in oil imports. The country meets more than 80 per cent of its crude oil requirements through imports.

Analysts expect the rupee to trade under pressure ahead of release of GDP growth data on Friday. The government is due to release the GDP data for the quarter of April-June on Friday, August 31.

"We expect rupee to be at 70-70.70 and could touch 71 levels. Our GDP numbers...can give it a fresh direction, but we see rupee to continue to be under pressure," Mr Datar said.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released its annual report for 2017-18 on Wednesday. As many as 99.3 per cent of the old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, that were banned overnight in November 2016, have been returned, the central bank said.

The rupee is down more than 10 per cent against the US dollar so far this year. On August 13, the rupee had plunged by 109 paise against the American currency to settle at 69.93.

Stock markets broke their two-day record-setting spree on Wednesday, with BSE benchmark index Sensex closing 173 points lower at 38,722. The NSE Nifty fell 46 points to end at 11,691.

(With agency inputs)