The rupee slid to an all-time low of 92 per US dollar on Friday before recovering marginally to settle at 91.88 (provisional), pressured by sustained selling from foreign funds, weak domestic equity markets and a risk-off mood in global markets, PTI reported.At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 91.45 against the greenback and initially gained ground to touch an intraday high of 91.41. However, it later gave up those gains as selling pressure intensified, slipping to a record intraday low of 92.00 before closing the session at 91.88, down 30 paise from its previous close.Forex traders said the rupee’s sharp intraday reversal reflected persistent foreign institutional investor (FII) outflows, weakness in domestic equities and continued global uncertainty. Rising crude oil prices and elevated US treasury yields also weighed on the domestic currency.On Thursday, the rupee had rebounded from record low levels to end 7 paise higher at 91.58 against the US dollar. The previous all-time low closing level was recorded on January 21, when the rupee plunged 68 paise to settle at 91.65.So far this month, the rupee has depreciated by nearly 200 paise, or over 2%. In calendar year 2025, the domestic unit had already weakened by about 5% amid sustained dollar strength and unabated foreign fund outflows.“We expect the rupee to trade with a negative bias due to selling pressure from FIIs and risk-off sentiments in the global markets. Dollar demand from hedgers and imports may further pressurise the rupee,” said Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst at Mirae Asset Sharekhan. He added that a weaker dollar and any intervention by the Reserve Bank of India could provide support at lower levels, with the USD-INR spot expected to trade in the range of 91.60 to 92.30.Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading marginally higher at 98.36. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 1.03% to $64.72 per barrel in futures trade.On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex tanked 769.67 points to settle at 81,537.70, while the Nifty dived 241.25 points to close at 25,048.65. Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 2,549.80 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
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