Rupee closed at 66.97 per $ but opened lower by 18 paise with 67.15 per $, its weakest level since March. This is the 11th out of 14 sessions when the rupee is trading weaker. On persistent dollar demand from banks and importers on the back of higher greenback in the overseas market, the rupee fell against US dollar.
The US dollar jumped in overseas market and Asian currencies were trading lower minutes after US Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting. The meeting indicated that a rate hike in June cannot be ruled out if the upcoming economic data is favourable.
The rupee has weakened 1.5% this year till now while foreign institutional investors have bought $2.02 billion from the local equity market and sold $662.4 million in debt markets.