Rupee slumps to all-time low

The Indian currency extended its losses and touched an all-time low of 77.42 against the US dollar in Monday's early trade weighed down by the strength of US dollar in the overseas market, foreign fund outflows and fall in domestic equities.The slump comes amid skyrocketing crude oil prices and uncertainty over the duration of the Russia-Ukraine war. Further, Rupee got pulled down by weak investor sentiments in domestic markets and concerns over relentless sales of Indian assets by overseas investors. It opened at 77.17 against the dollar but soon lost ground to quote at 77.42, registering a fall of 52 paise from the last close.

Due to high crude oil prices, India's trade and fiscal deficits are expected to rise, and will put increasing pressure on the Indian currency. The last record low for Rupee was 76.98 against the US dollar on March 7. Meanwhile, it fell 55 paise against the greenback on Friday and ended the day’s trade close to its all-time lows.“We are victims of that time when the rupee is hitting an all-time- low due to multiple reasons. To describe a few points - a stronger USD, weaker Asian currencies, rebound in oil prices, ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, FII outflow, and a surprise hike by the RBI to tackle inflation could be the major reasons behind the same,” Economic Times quoted CR Forex Advisors MD Amit Pabari as saying.The US dollar index, which measures the currency against 6 major currencies, was at 103.98 last, stronger than 103.79 at previous close. Meanwhile, yield on the 10-year US Treasury yield jumped to 3.14 per cent, 0.1 per cent higher than previous close.