Mumbai, March 13 The rupee fell by 20 paise to close at a fresh record low of 92.45 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday, amid soaring crude oil prices and the ongoing conflict in West Asia.
According to forex traders, a stronger US dollar, heavy outflows of foreign funds, and sustained selling in the domestic equity markets further weighed on the rupee.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 92.33 and continued to decline, hitting a fresh intra-day low of 92.47 against the US dollar. It eventually settled at its lifetime low of 92.45 (provisional), down 20 paise from its previous close.
In the previous trading session, the rupee lost 24 paise to settle at 92.25 against the US dollar, its lowest-ever closing level until Thursday.
"The rupee hit a new record low on Friday due to weak domestic markets and a strong dollar. Rising crude oil prices and continued outflows of foreign institutional investors also put pressure on the rupee," said Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst, Mirae Asset ShareKhan.
"We expect the rupee to trade with a negative bias due to risk aversion in global markets amid the ongoing US-Israel and Iran conflict. Rising crude oil prices and concerns over inflation may further put pressure on the rupee. A strong dollar and rising US treasury yields may also weigh on the domestic currency," he added.
Choudhary expects the rupee to trade in the range of Rs 92.10-92.80.
The dollar index, which measures the strength of the US dollar against a basket of six currencies, was trading at 100.17, up 0.43 per cent.
Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, was trading at USD 101.9 per barrel in futures trade, up 1.41 per cent.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE Sensex crashed by 1,470.50 points, or 1.93 per cent, to 74,563.92, while the Nifty plummeted to 23,151.10, down 488.05 points, or 2.06 per cent.
According to exchange data, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 7,049.87 crore on Thursday.
Meanwhile, retail inflation rose to 3.21 per cent in February, compared to 2.74 per cent in the previous month, driven mainly by higher food prices, according to government data released on Thursday.