Rupee Closes At 73.47 Against Dollar, Extends Losses To Second Day

The rupee dropped by 44 paise - or 0.60 per cent - to close at 73.47 against the US dollar on Thursday. It moved within a 21-paise range, between 73.21 and 73.48 during the four-hour session before ending near its intraday low. Strength in the greenback and weakness in domestic equities continued to put pressure on the rupee, say analysts. At the current level, the rupee has recovered 4.47 per cent from its intraday low of 76.91, registered last month.

Domestic stock markets gave up early gains in a choppy session, amid weakness in banking, financial services and energy shares.

The S&P BSE Sensex index dropped as much as 259.73 points from its intraday high to hit 38,976.63 on in afternoon deals, and the broader NSE Nifty 50 benchmark dropped to as low as 11,514.80, receding from an intraday high of 11,584.95.

The dollar index - which gauges the greenback against six other currencies - was last seen trading 0.03 per cent higher, having risen as much as 0.24 per cent earlier.

While the Japanese yen was down 0.12 per cent against the US dollar, the Singaporean dollar was down 0.09 per cent and the South Korean won down 0.23 per cent.

The Chinese yuan and the Taiwanese dollar were up 0.04 per cent and 0.13 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices suffered sharp losses and hovered near multi-week lows on Thursday, as worries about falling US gasoline demand and sluggish economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic dented sentiment.

Brent futures - the global benchmark for crude oil - were last seen trading 1.64 per cent lower at $43.70 per barrel.