Rupee hits an all-time low at 50.65/67 a dollar

27 February 2009

The rupee closed at an all-time low against the greenback, quoting as low as 50.65/67 to a dollar, further down from its record close of 50.48 per dollar on Thursday.

The domestic currency was hammered by continued outflow of capital and higher month-end dollar demand, besides a strong US dollar in the overseas market.

A strong dollar gave foreign banks an opportunity to buy the US currency in local market to sell it in offshore non-deliverable forward contracts to book immediate profits.

The domestic unit opened lower at 50.69 a dollar and remained stable in late morning deals.

The rupee had touched an intra-day low of 50.60 on 2 December 2008.

The domestic currency has tumbled by 85 paise (or 1.71 per cent) in the last four trading sessions alone.