Rupee Ends At An All-Time Low, 5th Record Weak Close In 10 Days

The rupee closes at a new all-time low of 77.73 against the dollar, the fifth record weak close in the last ten trading sessions, even as the dollar took a breather after heavy gains and global stocks tumbled on increasing concerns that aggressive tightening by global central banks could choke growth.

Bloomberg showed the partially-convertible rupee weakened to its lifetime low close of 77.73, while PTI reported that the currency ended provisionally at 77.72 per dollar.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened lower at 77.72 against the greenback and ranged between a low of 77.76 and a high of 77.63 in intra-say trading.

On Wednesday, the rupee had closed at a record low of about 77.61 against the greenback on worries over stubborn inflation and economic slowdown.

While the rupee has closed at a new lifetime-weak level for the fifth time in the last ten days, the currency's losses could have been much more if the Reserve Bank of India had not intervened. 

India's central bank has defended the rupee by burning through its foreign exchange reserves since the rupee hit a record low for the first time this year in March, days after Russia invaded Ukraine.

The war on the edge of Europe has weighed on global risk assets on worries of a further push to already high inflation and worries that the resultant central bank action could weigh on economic growth.

A steep fall in Indian equity benchmarks also hurt the rupee.