The rupee plunged below the 82 mark for the first time in day trade on Wednesday before settling down 40 paise at 81.93 against the US dollar due to heavy forex outflows amid strengthening US treasury yields.
A negative trend in domestic equities and the stronger dollar in overseas markets simply sapped investor appetite, forex traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 81.90 and fell to 82.02 to a dollar in day trade due to risk-averse sentiment among investors. It finally settled at 81.93, an all-time closing low.
Sriram Iyer, senior research analyst at Reliance Securities, said the fall was less than at its Asian peers as the Reserve Bank of India intervened in the market. The Chinese yuan weakened 0.90% while the Singapore dollar weakened 0.48% and the Korean won 0.83%.
Traders now await the Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy decision and details of the government's borrowing plan for the rest of the fiscal.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, advanced 0.40% to 114.55.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 1.33 per cent to USD 85.12 per barrel.
