Mumbai, August 11: The Indian rupee fell sharply by 31 paise to end near a two-week low of 46.70/71 against the US dollar today on sustained demand for the American currency from banks and corporates.
Forex dealers attributed the dollar demand to its gains overseas in the wake of the US Federal Reserve’s decision yesterday to reinvest money from maturing mortgage bonds into government debt to boost the flagging economy. The dollar index of six major currencies was up by one per cent.
The domestic currency opened lower at 46.47/48 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange against the overnight close of 46.39/40 a dollar.
It later fell to a low of 46.74 in line with the stock markets before recovering marginally to end at 46.70/71 against the dollar, a net loss of 0.67 per cent.
Yesterday, the rupee had lost 27 paise against the US dollar.
–Agencies