Mumbai: The rupee hit a historic low of 92-a-dollar on Friday and gained marginally to settle at 91.90 against the American currency, amid selling pressure from foreign funds and risk-off sentiment in global markets.
Forex traders said the Indian rupee gave up early gains and hit a record low of 92 per US dollar in intraday trade due to weak domestic markets and persistent foreign fund outflows. Moreover, gains in crude oil prices and a surge in US treasury yields weighed on the rupee.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 91.45 and then gained ground to touch an intraday high of 91.41 against the greenback. It fell to an all-time intraday low of 92.00 before settling for the day at a record closing low of 91.90, down 32 paise from its previous closing level.
On Thursday, the rupee rebounded from its all-time low levels and ended with a gain of 7 paise at 91.58 against the US dollar.
The previous all-time low was recorded on January 21, when the rupee plunged 68 paise to close at 91.65 against the American currency.
The rupee has slumped by 202 paise, or over 2 per cent, so far this month. In 2025, the domestic unit had plunged 5 per cent on unabated foreign fund outflows and dollar strength.
“We expect the rupee to trade with a negative bias due to selling pressure from FIIs and risk-off sentiments in the global markets. Dollar demand from hedgers and imports may further pressurise the rupee,” said Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst, Mirae Asset ShareKhan.
However, a weak dollar and any intervention by the RBI may support the rupee at lower levels. USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of 91.60 to 92.30, Choudhary added.
According to Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, the rupee succumbed to the weight of voracious dollar demand from importers and corporates ahead of the long weekend and the upcoming Union Budget.
“This fragility intensified as domestic equities faced a fresh bout of liquidation, erasing Thursday’s tentative recovery. The outlook for spot USD-INR remains resolutely bullish; we anticipate the pair may eclipse the psychological 92 threshold while finding the support at 91.10,” Parmar said.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.01 per cent higher at 98.36.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 1.03 per cent higher at USD 64.72 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex tanked 769.67 points to settle at 81,537.70, while the Nifty dived 241.25 points to 25,048.65.
Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs -4,113.38 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
Reserve Bank data released on Friday showed the country’s foreign exchange reserves jumped by USD 14.167 billion to USD 701.36 billion during the week ended January 16. The overall reserves had increased by USD 392 million to USD 687.193 billion in the preceding week.
