Rupee Falls 1 Paisa to All-Time Low of 84.38 Against US Dollar in Early Trade

Mumbai: rupee slipped 1 paisa to an all-time low of 84.38 against US dollar in early tre on Monday, weighed down by persistent foreign fund outflows and a muted trend in domestic equities.

Forex trers said rupee is likely to remain under pressure unless re is a softening in dollar index or a slowdown in foreign fund outflows.

At interbank foreign exchange, rupee opened at an all-time low of 84.38 against greenback, registering a fall of 1 paisa over its previous close.

On Friday, rupee dropped 5 paise to hit a new lifetime low of 84.37 against US dollar, registering a decline for third straight session.

Last week, rupee came under pressure amid US elections and sustained foreign fund outflows. Following nearly USD 12 billion in equity sell-offs in October, foreign funds have continued ir retreat in vember, with outflows of around USD 1.6 billion recorded in just first 10 days.

This trend reflects overvaluation of Indian equities and disappointing Q2 earnings, CR Forex visors MD Amit Pabari said.

"In medium term, rupee is expected to tre within 83.80 to 84.50 range, as Reserve Bank seems to cap downside of rupee with sufficient Forex reserves in its kitty," Pabari ded.

Meanwhile, dollar index, which gauges greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was tring higher by 0.05 per cent at 105.05.

Brent crude, global oil benchmark, fell 0.37 per cent to USD 73.60 per barrel in futures tre.

On domestic equity market front, Sensex was tring 12.47 points, or 0.02 per cent lower, to 79,473.85 points. Nifty fell 5.65 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 24,142.55 points.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in capital markets on Friday, as y offloed shares worth Rs 3,404.04 crore, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, India's forex reserves declined by USD 2.675 billion to USD 682.13 billion for week ended vember 1, RBI said on Friday.

In previous week, overall reserves h dropped by USD 3.463 billion to USD 684.805 billion. At September-end, reserves h hit an all-time high of USD 704.885 billion.

(This story is t edited by Republic and is published from a syndicated feed)