Rupee hits all-time low of 80 against US dollar

The persistent weakening of the rupee impacted on Indian market indexes early on Tuesday, which had gained ground over the previous two days.

The rupee dropped to another another record low against the US dollar on Tuesday, reaching the important psychological threshold of 80. At 9.40 a.m., the Sensex was down 131.36 points, or 0.24 percent, while the Nifty was down 25.55 points, or 0.16 percent, at 16,252.95 points.

According to statistics from the National Stock Exchange, of the Nifty 50 equities, 29 were in the black and the rest were in the green.

The value of the rupee has been steadily declining, which has been detrimental to local equities. Foreign investors often experience unfavourable effects from rupee devaluation.

“We expect a rupee to remain volatile this week and could hold its key support level of 80.5500 on a closing basis,” said brokerage Prithvi Finmart.

In addition, sources claim that Apple, a producer of phones and gadgets, plans to cut back on employment and spending, which is likely to have dampened equities in India and other Asian countries.

“Asian shares are subdued Tuesday after Apple Inc.’s plans to slow hiring highlighted concerns that aggressive monetary tightening to tackle inflation threatens an economic downturn,” said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.