Mumbai :  The Indian rupee Tuesday plunged by another 13 paise to close at one-month low of 71.05 against the US dollar amid strengthening greenback and surging crude oil prices.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange, the rupee opened weaker at Rs 70.79 then lost further ground and fell to a low of 71.15 against the American currency.

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The domestic unit, however, gained some strength and finally settled at 71.05 a dollar, down 13 paise over its previous close.

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This was the third straight session of loss for the rupee. The domestic currency Monday plunged by 43 paise to close at nearly one-month low of 70.92 against the US dollar. The Indian unit has lost 64 paise in these three sessions.

Forex traders attributed the rupee plunge to rising crude prices. However, heavy buying in domestic equities and fresh foreign fund inflows restricted the fall in the local unit to some extent.

Stronger dollar against its key rival currencies impacted the rupee trading pattern, they said.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was higher by 0.22 per cent to 95.81 in late afternoon trade.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, was trading at USD 59.81 per barrel, higher by 1.39 per cent.

Foreign funds bought shares worth Rs 159.60 crore from the capital markets on a net basis and domestic institutional investors purchased shares worth Rs 417.44 crore Tuesday, provisional data showed.

The Financial Benchmark India Private Ltd (FBIL) set the reference rate for the rupee/dollar at 71.0298 and for rupee/euro at 81.5048. The reference rate for rupee/British pound was fixed at 91.6242 and for rupee/100 Japanese yen at 65.37.

The 30-share index Tuesdday settled 464.77 points, or 1.30 per cent, higher at 36,318.33, while the broader NSE Nifty rallied 149.20 points, or 1.39 per cent, to finish at 10,886.80.

PTI

 15/1/2019