Mumbai: The rupee continued its downslide for the second straight week and closed lower by a whopping 81 paise at two-month low of 62.97 against the American currency on heavy dollar demand from importers and exporters on the back of a firm USD overseas.
Steep fall in local equities with the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex registering its biggest fall of 945.65 points, or 3.21 percent, in current calender year also weighed on the rupee while capital inflows could not stem the rupee fall, a forex dealer said.
The dollar gained as strong payrolls data raised bets of a Fed rate hike, as early as summer. This pushed the dollar index to fresh 11-year high.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the rupee started the week bearish at 62.60 against last Thursday's close of 62.16 and moved in negative territory throughout the week.
It moved in a range of 62.4925 and 63.0025 before ending the week at 62.97, exhibiting a steep fall of 81 paise, or 1.30 percent.
Last week, it had dropped by 33 paise, or 0.53 percent.
The rupee recovered on Thursday by 28 paise in step with smart recovery in local equities amid weak dollar overseas, another forex dealer said, adding that IMF upping India growth forecast and Insurance Bill passage in Parliament also boosted sentiments.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex plummeted by 604.17 points, or 2.05 percent, logging its biggest fall in last two months while Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) picked up shares worth USD 139.16 million during the first four days of the week, as per Sebi data.
