New Delhi: The rupee surrendered all the gains made during the day and settled 13 paise lower at 73.61 against the US dollar on Wednesday amid steady capital outflows and strengthening of the American currency.
The US dollar strengthened against its rivals ahead of the Federal Reserve's release of minutes from the September meeting. The Indian rupee also came under pressure following a heaving selling in domestic equities. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange, the rupee opened on a higher note at 73.43 and gained further ground to hit an intra-day high of 73.37 against the US dollar.
But eventually, the Indian unit erased all the gains and finally settled the day at 73.61, down by 13 paise. The domestic currency climbed 35 paise to end at nearly two-week high of 73.48 per dollar Tuesday. Meanwhile, the benchmark Sensex Wednesday fell 383 points to end below the 35,000-mark in highly volatile trade, breaking three sessions of gains as investors booked profits.
The broader NSE Nifty too dived 131.70 points, or 1.24 per cent, to close at 10,453.05. Unabated foreign fund outflows also had an impact on the domestic currency. Foreign investors sold shares worth Rs 1,165.63 crore Tuesday, provisional data showed.
The Financial Benchmark India Private Ltd (FBIL) set the reference rate for the rupee/dollar at 73.4846 and for rupee/euro at 84.9800. The reference rate for rupee/British pound was fixed at 96.8684 and for rupee/100 Japanese yen was 65.47.
