Rupee hits record low of 83.06 against US dollar

The rupee depreciated 6 paise to a record low of 83.06 against the US dollar in opening trade on Thursday due to a stronger greenback overseas and unrelenting foreign fund outflows.

Besides, a sell-off in domestic equities and risk-averse sentiments weighed on the local unit, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened weak at 83.05 against the dollar, then slipped further to quote 83.06, a fall of 6 paise over its previous close. The local currency also hit a high of 83.07 in early deals.

In the previous session on Wednesday, the rupee plunged 60 paise to end at 83 against the dollar.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.07 per cent to 113.06.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, slipped 0.17 per cent to USD 92.25 per barrel.

"Yesterday, the rupee's weakness was caused by probable dollar buying at 82.02 by the RBI in currency futures and outflows of large size of about $500 million from Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL)," said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury at Finrex Treasury Advisors.

"The RBI did not protect 82.40, and short covering of the pair took it to 83.00, with stop losses triggered between 82.40 to 83.50," he added.

In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 140.09 points or 0.24 per cent lower at 58,967.10. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty fell 43.95 points or 0.25 per cent to 17,468.30.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets as they offloaded shares worth Rs 453.91 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.