Rupee Weakens To 69.60 Against Dollar

The rupee shed by as much as 37 paise against the dollar on Monday. After opening lower at 69.40 against the greenback, compared with the previous close of 69.23, the rupee fell as much as 0.53 per cent to touch 69.60. Rising crude oil prices coupled with increased demand for the US currency from importers and banks affected the rupee's value in the forex market, say analysts. Weakness in the domestic equity markets in the second half of the session also hurt the rupee, they add.

The domestic equity markets reversed early gains dragged lower by selling in banking, financial services and media stocks. The S&P BSE Sensex, which had added 179.02 points or 0.46 per cent - in morning, declined as much as 411.54 points from the intraday high in afternoon deals. The NSE Nifty, which had touched 11,710.30 in the first half of the session, declined to hit 11,585.35 on the downside in afternoon.

The losses in equity markets, however, came despite continued foreign fund inflows. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net buyers in the capital markets, putting in Rs 797.90 crore on Friday, according to provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Crude oil prices hit five-month highs on Monday in anticipation of tightening global supply going forward. Brent crude futures - the global benchmark for crude oil - climbed to touch $70.76 per barrel during Monday's session. That marked the highest level recorded since November last year.

The dollar, however, weakened overseas, pulling back from multi-week highs. The dollar index - which measures the greenback against six peers - was last seen trading 0.13 per cent lower at 97.2700 on Monday.

(With agency inputs)