Rupee has weakened by 2.9% in 2014.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: India’s rupee extended its freefall to a fourth straight day and has now reached its lowest valuation against the U.S. dollar in 13 months.
India’s currency has dropped 2.8% against the dollar over the past three weeks, and as of today the rupee has fallen 0.2% to 63.6750 a dollar. It reached 63.8850 on December 17, which was its weakest valuation since November of 2013.
The rupee has weakened by 2.9% over the course of 2014, while foreign institutional investors have bought $15.99 billion from local equity markets and $26.38 billion from the debt market.
Most Asian currencies ended lower against the dollar this month. The Indonesian rupiah was down 0.26%, China offshore 0.26%, Malaysian ringgit 0.19%, Chinese renminbi 0.19%, Thai baht 0.16%, Japanese Yen 0.1%, and Taiwanese dollar 0.06%.
The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency’s strength against other major national currencies, was trading at 89.97, down about 0.06% from its previous close of 90.03.
India’s benchmark equity index, S&P BSE Sensex, shot up 154 points to end at 27,395.73, an increase of 0.57%.