Mumbai: The Indian rupee dipped below the 64-mark to a 20-month low of 64.28 before recovering on the last day of the week to conclude at 63.94 against the American currency, still closing down by 52 paise on capital foreign funds outflows.
Fresh dollar demand from importers, mainly oil refiners, on the back of surge in brent crude oil prices too weighed on the rupee but a sharp fall in the greenback overseas capped the rupee's losses.
Persistent foreign funds outflows, weighed down by persistent concerns over MAT issue and delay in passage of key tax reform bills in Parliament dragged down the rupee to 20-month lows. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold USD 1.03 billion during the first four days of the week as per the SEBI's record.
The rupee resumed lower at 63.54 as against as against the last weekend's level of 63.42 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market and dropped further to a 20-month low of 64.28 before ending the week at 63.94, logging a loss of 52 paise of 0.82 percent.
This is the weakest level of Indian currency since September 10, 2013, when it was traded at 64.54 during the intra-day trade.
The benchmark BSE Sensex crashed by 722.77 points on May 6 -- the second biggest fall in the current calender year after January 6, 2015 when it had plunged by 854.86 points or 3.07 percent.
The Sensex recovered by 94.08 points or 0.35 percent to end the week at 27,105.39.
In the New York, the dollar stuck in a range against most of its major rivals ahead of US jobs report, but sterling rallied to its highest in just over a week on expectations that British Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives will stay in office.
Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity Group CEO said: "Rupee depreciated this week to trade at 64 levels taking cues from the losses in local equities. It posted 20-month low on Thursday amid selling by foreign investors on ongoing worries about retrospective taxes. Actions from the US Fed and Greece will show the road ahead but the concern raised over it has already dented the global equities."
"Expect rupee to fall further in coming days if the announcements made by the US and Greece are not in favour of market. To end the week, rupee closed at 63.94. The trading range for the Spot USD/INR pair is expected to be within 63.00 to 65.00," he added.
Forward dollar premium payable in October ended at 221.5-223.5 paise and far-forward contract maturing in April finished at 439.5-441.5 pasie.
The RBI fixed the reference rate for the US dollar at 64.0493 and the euro at 71.7608 from preceding weekend's level of 63.5780 and 70.5334, respectively.
The rupee tumbled further against the pound sterling to end the week at 98.68 from 97.77 previous weekend and also declined further to 71.76 per euro from 70.95.
It recovered marginally against the Japanese yen to end at 53.24 per 100 yen from 53.33 from preceding weekend's level.
From the 30-share Sensex pack, 20 stocks finished in the green.
Bajaj Auto firmed up by 9.23 percent, followed by Hindalco 7.71 percent, HUL 5.31 percent, Bharti Airtel 4.27 percent, Vedanta 3.90 percent, ONGC 3.63 percent, RIL 3.13 percent, BHEL 2.61 percent, GAIL 2.48 percent, M&M 3.16 percent, TCS 2.50 percent, Cipla 2.61 percent, HDFC 1.36 percent and ITC 1.80 percent.
However, NTPC dropped by 5.49 percent followed by Axis Bank 4.49 percent, ICICI Bank 4.32 percent, Tata Power 3.56 percent, Maruti 3.41 percent, SBI 3.05 percent, BHEL 2.49 percent, L&T 2.16 percent and Hero MotoCorp 1.20 percent.
Among the BSE sectoral indices, consumer durables tumbled by 4.02 percent, bankex 3.05 percent, power 3.02 percent and consumer goods 1.97 percent, while FMCG rose by 1.88 percent, IT 1.62 percent, metal 1.55 percent, teck 1.55 percent and realty 1.03 percent.
The total turnover during the week at the BSE and NSE was up at Rs 15,935.18 crore and Rs 88,668.55 crore from previous week of Rs 13,354.24 crore and Rs 80,408.38 crore, respectively.
