For the first time in history, the rupee on Wednesday, 20 July, declined 13 paise to close below the 80 mark against the United States dollar amid a strong demand for the US currency due to rising crude oil prices.
The rupee opened at 79.91 and later fell to a low of 80.05 to the dollar at the interbank foreign exchange market, news agency PTI reported.
This comes after the rupee had recovered from its all-time low of 80.05 to close at 79.92 against the dollar on Tuesday after suspected intervention by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Weighing in on the possible reasons for a slide in the value of the rupee, forex traders said that significant dollar demand from oil importers, firm crude oil prices and concerns regarding a rising trade deficit may have influenced investor decisions.
Jateen Trivedi, vice president of research in LKP Securities, said, "Overall gains in crude in the last few days where Brent has risen again above USD 105 and lack of intervention from RBI has kept the rupee hovering around 80.00. Going ahead rupee will be seen in the range of 79.75-80.25."
He added that the rupee was broadly in a downtrend despite measures by the RBI on international payment gateways and hikes in import duties on commodities.
The country's forex reserves also stood at $580.252 billion, down by $27.05 billion from the end of March this year.
On the domestic market front, the BSE Sensex ended at 55,397.53 with a gain of 629.91 points while the NSE Nifty rose by 180.30 points to reach 16,520.85.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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