Rupee plunges 18 paise to close at 73.60 against US dollar

Depreciating for the third straight session, the Indian rupee fell 18 paise to close at 73.60 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday, tracking a strong American currency in the overseas market and muted trend in domestic equities.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 73.48 and dropped to a low of 73.70 in the day trade.

The domestic unit finally settled at 73.60 against the greenback, down 18 paise over its previous close.

In the previous session, the rupee had settled at 73.42 against the US dollar.

"Indian rupee depreciated for the third day in a row following the rebound in dollar against major trading currencies. Large corporate outflows, rise in global yields and hedging dollar demand weighed on local currency," said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.23 per cent higher at 92.72.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.80 per cent to USD 72.26 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 29.22 points or 0.05 per cent lower at 58,250.26, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 8.60 points or 0.05 per cent to 17,353.50.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Tuesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 145.45 crore, as per exchange data.