After a brief pause, the rupee on Thursday fell by 13 paise to end at 64.04 against the US currency on strong month-end dollar demand from importers.
Stronger dollar sentiment overseas against the backdrop of Federal Reserve’s decision to leave interest rates unchanged predominantly pressurised the local unit, a forex dealer commented.
Consistent unwinding by foreign investors from Indian equities and debt markets, too, weighed on the rupee.
The dollar hit multi-year highs against all other Asian currencies amid expectations of rate hike at its September policy meet and also US second-quarter growth data later in the day.
The rupee resumed marginally higher at 63.93 per dollar against Wednesday’s closing level of 63.91 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market supported by mild dollar selling as well as firm equities.
However, the local currency turned weak following good dollar demand from state banks, most likely on behalf of their institutional clients to hit a fresh intra-day low of 64.04, before ending down by 13 paise, or 0.20 per cent, at 64.04.
It briefly touched a high of 63.92 during the trade.
The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up by 0.31 per cent at 97.52.
Meanwhile, Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 186.24 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
The benchmark Sensex rallied by 141.93 points to end at 27,705.35.
