Rupee Plunges, Bond Yields Up

Pre-budget jitters hit the foreign exchange and government securities markets Monday and the rupee plunged to a new intra-day low of 48.88 against the dollar before closing at 48.78/79, another new closing low.

The Sensex closed up 0.26 per cent at 3,613.51 points, off 3,580.89 points. Traded volume dropped to 74.8 million shares from Friday