Rupee hits fresh intra-day low of 92.44 against US dollar

Mumbai: The rupee hit a fresh all-time intra-day low of 92.44 against the US dollar on Friday, down 19 paise from its previous close, as rising global crude oil prices amid the raging West Asia conflict kept international markets on the edge.

A stronger greenback, heavy FII outflows and sustained selling in the domestic equity markets further weighed on the rupee, according to forex traders.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the local unit opened at 92.33 and kept losing ground to hit a fresh intra-day low of 92.44 against the US dollar, down 19 paise from its previous close.

The rupee fell 24 paise to settle at its lowest level ever at 92.25 against the US dollar.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.04 per cent higher at 99.77.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 4.99 per cent at $96.57 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex plunged 917.69 points, or 1.21 per cent, to 75,116.73 points, while the Nifty tumbled 308.40 points, or 1.30 per cent, to 23,330.75.

Foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 7,049.87 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, retail inflation moved up to 3.21 per cent in February compared to 2.74 per cent in the preceding month, driven mainly by higher food prices, government data released on Thursday showed.