Mumbai, Nov 29 (PTI) The rupee plunged 13 paise to settle at a fresh all-time low of 84.60 against US dollar on Friday, dragged down by unabated foreign fund outflows even as weak domestic macroeconomic data jolted the overall sentiment.
Forex traders said, dollar demand from importers for meeting month-end payment obligations weighed on the rupee, while, the GDP data released by the government later in the day adversely impacted the currency market, toppling the local unit to its record low.
The latest government data released on Friday showed India's economic growth slowed to near two-year low of 5.4 per cent in the July-September quarter of this fiscal due to poor performance of manufacturing and mining sectors as well as weak consumption.
The gross domestic product (GDP) had expanded by 8.1 per cent in the July-September quarter of 2023-24 fiscal and 6.7 per cent in first quarter of current fiscal (April-June 2024).
The previous low level of GDP growth at 4.3 per cent was recorded in the third quarter (October-December 2022) of financial year 2022-23.
Meanwhile, the central government's fiscal deficit at the end of the first seven months of the current financial year touched 46.5 per cent of the full-year target.
The deficit stood at 45 per cent of the budget estimates in the corresponding period of 2023-24.
Also, the data on output of eight key infrastructure sectors showed the rate of expansion at 3.1 per cent in October 2024, sharply lower compared to the 12.7 per cent growth registered in the same month last year. On a monthly basis, the production growth of these sectors was higher than the 2.4 per cent expansion recorded in September 2024.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 84.49, inched up to 84.48 and touched the lowest level of 84.60 against the greenback during intra-day. The unit also ended the session at 84.60 against the dollar, registering a sharp fall of 13 paise over its previous close.
Rupee's previous lowest closing level of 84.50 was recorded on November 21.
On Thursday, the rupee depreciated 7 paise to close at 84.47 against US dollar.
Anuj Choudhary - Research Analyst at Mirae Asset Sharekhan, said the rupee is expected to trade with a negative bias on strong dollar and geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Any surge in crude oil prices amid the geopolitical tensions and month-end dollar demand from importers may also weigh on the rupee "However, a positive tone in the domestic markets and any intervention by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may support the rupee at lower levels," he said, adding, "USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of 84.35 to 84.70." Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading lower by 0.15 per cent at 105.88.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.30 per cent to USD 73.06 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 759.05 points or 0.96 per cent to 79,802.79 points, while Nifty was up 216.95 points or 0.91 per cent to 24,131.10 points.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded Rs 4,383.55 crore in the capital markets on net basis on Friday, according to exchange data.
India's forex reserves dropped USD 1.31 billion to USD 656.582 billion for the week ended November 22, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday.
The reserves had dropped a record USD 17.761 billion to USD 657.892 billion in the previous reporting week ending November 15. PTI DRR HVA
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