Rupee plunges 79 paise to record low of 69.62 against USD

Reversing all its early gains, the Indian rupee nosedived to its life-time low of 69.62, tumbling by 79 paise against the US dollar in morning trade today in line with weakening domestic equities and global markets rout.

Increased demand for the US currency from importers and banks amid fresh foreign fund outflows mainly hit the rupee sentiment, forex traders said.

The rupee's previous record low was 69.13, marked on July 20, 2018.

On Friday, the rupee had lost 15 paise to end at 68.83 against the resurgent dollar.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex fell over 288 points and the NSE Nifty dipped below the 11,400-level in opening trade today on heavy losses in PSUs, auto, metal and banking counters amid a global rout in equity markets.

A weak trend in Asia coupled with sell-offs on Wall Street last week and a slump in the Turkish lira dampened the sentiment globally, brokers said.

On a net basis, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 510.66 crore Friday, as per provisional data.