Mumbai, March 9 The rupee plunged by 46 paise to near its all-time intra-day low of 92.28 against the US dollar in early trading on Monday as global crude oil prices soared and the US dollar strengthened amid the worsening situation in the Middle East.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by a staggering 25.68 per cent at USD 116.5 per barrel in futures trade as the conflict between the US and Iran intensified.
A significant surge in FII outflows and a crash in the domestic equity market in the morning trading put further pressure on the local currency, forex traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 92.22 against the US dollar before falling further to 92.28, down 46 paise from its previous close. The rupee had hit an all-time intra-day low of 92.35 on March 4.
The rupee depreciated 18 paise against the US dollar on Friday, closing at 91.82 against the American currency.
"The rupee will remain vulnerable to rising oil prices, which have risen by more than 28 per cent since the last close on Friday. Asian currencies were also lower on Monday," said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
The rupee might touch 93.00 if oil remains above USD 100 in the coming trading sessions, he added.
The dollar index, which gauges the strength of the US dollar against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.66 per cent higher at 99.64.
On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex crashed by 2,345.89 points to 76,573.01 in early trading, while Nifty tumbled by 708.75 points to 23,741.70.
Foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 6,030.38 crore on a net basis on Friday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, India's forex reserves jumped by USD 4.885 billion to an all-time high of USD 728.494 billion during the week ended February 27, the Reserve Bank said on Friday.
