Rupee slips further, back to 71/$ after six sessions

Extending its morning losses, the rupee on Thursday slipped back to 71-mark against the US dollar. At 10:30 am, it was trading at 71.05.  The domestic unit had opened 33 paise lower at 70.79. On Wednesday, the currency ticked higher by 3 paise to 70.46 amid weakness in the greenback and easing crude oil prices.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Wednesday left the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent while maintaining the stance of 'calibrated tightening' of policy.

In the equity market, benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty slumped over 1 per cent in the morning deals, following decline in US stock futures and Asian markets. Investor sentiment took a hit after Canadian authorities arrested a top executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies, fanning fears of further tensions between China and the United States, Reuters reported. 

Foreign institutional investors (FII) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 4.49 billion on December 4, 2018. FIIs have been net sellers of the more than Rs 9.30 billion in December 2018, according to ICICI Direct report. 

Oil prices fell but trading was tepid ahead of a meeting by producer group OPEC that is expected to result in a supply cut aimed at draining a glut that has pulled down crude prices by 30 per cent since October.