Currency, equities' woes deepen as rupee closes at 71.76 against dollar

Rupee's nominal value in July should have been around 73.90 to show its fair value against its 36 trading partners

The rupee almost touched 72 a dollar on Wednesday as the equities market continued its losing streak for a sixth straight trading session.

The Indian currency closed at 71.76 a dollar, down 0.27 per cent from its previous record close of 71.57 a dollar. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) continued with its hands-off approach, with light-touch intervention, but not enough to prevent the rupee from marking yet another lowest close.

The benchmark Sensex on the BSE closed with losses for a sixth session, its longest losing streak in six months. After dropping as much as 383 points to 37,774,