Rupee falls 16 paise to 68.67 vs USD in early trade

The rupee tumbled 16 paise to trade at 68.67 against the US dollar in early trade Wednesday amid unabated foreign fund outflows and rising crude oil prices.

The rupee opened weak at 68.61 at the interbank forex market and slipped further to 68.67, showing a decline of 16 paise against its previous close.

The domestic unit had rebounded 15 paise to close at 68.51 against the US dollar Tuesday on fag-end selling of the greenback by banks and importers in line with a late recovery in domestic equities.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital markets, pulling out Rs 674.26 crore Tuesday, provisional data with the exchanges showed.

After gyrating more than 200 points in opening session, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 110.33 points, or 0.28 per cent, higher at 38,841.15 at 0950 hours. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty rose 36.80 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 11,589.45.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, inched up 0.02 per cent to 97.51.

Meanwhile, brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, climbed 0.89 per cent to USD 64.73 per barrel.

The 10-year government bond yield was at 6.60 per cent in morning trade.