Early on Monday, the Indian rupee lost 19 paise to trade at 82.38 against the US dollar (22.44 against the UAE dirham), as continuing capital flight and sluggish stock markets dampened investor mood.
The rupee fell 19 paise from its previous finish to quote at 82.38 on the Indian interbank foreign exchange after it began lower at 82.33 versus the dollar.
Initial transactions saw the rupee fluctuating between a narrow band of 82.38 and 82.33 versus the dollar.
The rupee had reached a settlement value of 82.19 versus the dollar on Friday during the previous session.
The dollar index, which measures how strong the dollar is relative to a basket of six different currencies, decreased 0.27 percent to 113.01.
The benchmark for world oil, Brent crude futures, increased by 0.59% to $92.17 a barrel.
The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 100.41 points, or 0.17 percent, at 57,819.56 on the Indian equities market, while the larger NSE Nifty was down 33.95 points, or 0.20 percent, at 17,151.75.
According to exchange statistics, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs10.11 billion on Friday, making them net sellers in the capital markets.
In the first two weeks of October, FIIs withdrew approximately Rs75 billion from the Indian equities markets due to worries that the US Federal Reserve and other central banks would be tightening monetary policy, which might impede global economic development.
As she defended the rupee’s 8% decline in value relative to the dollar this year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman claimed that the rupee had not weakened but rather that the dollar had risen.
