Rupee falls to 44.9150/9300 USD

Mumbai, Apr 12: The rupee today fell sharply to 44.9150/9300 in the opening move after opening stronger at 44.81/82 per US dollar, as compared to the last close of 44.8350/8450, said a foreign exchange (forex) dealer here.

The Indian basket of crude oil prices soared to a new high of USD 66.01 per barrel, which was main worry for the rupee as India's imports bill for crude oil was huge at USD 43.8 billion in the last fiscal.

The crude oil price in the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) hovered around USD 69 per barrel.

Also Rs 427 crore of foreign fund outflow in the Indian equity market reported by market regulator SEBI for last Friday, was another factor for rupee being under pressure.

UNI