Rupee falls 13 paise to 92.43 against US dollar

Mumbai: The rupee stayed weak and lost 13 paise to 92.43 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, weighed down by massive withdrawal of foreign funds and surging crude oil prices amid geopolitical uncertainties.

Volatile sentiment in domestic equity markets further dragged the currency down even as the greenback retreated from higher levels, according to forex traders.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the local unit opened at 92.44 and stayed close to its lowest-ever intra-day level, trading at 92.43 against the greenback, registering a loss of 13 paise from its previous close.

In the preceding session on Friday, the rupee hit its lowest intra-day level of 92.47 before ending at its record closing low of 92.30 against the dollar.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.13 per cent lower at 99.98.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 1.03 per cent at $104.22 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex rose 139.28 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 74,703.20, while the Nifty went up 51.10 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 23,202.20.

Foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 10,716.64 crore on a net basis on Friday, according to exchange data.

The country's forex reserves dropped by $11.683 billion to $716.810 billion during the week ended March 6, the RBI data showed on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had increased by $4.885 billion to an all-time high of $728.494 billion.