Rupee hits fresh record low of 72.7 a dollar

New Delhi, Sep 11: The rupee hit a new record low of 72.73 in late afternoon trade on Tuesday, as it dropped 28 paise against the US dollar. However, in early trade the rupee rose as much as 15 paise against the US dollar.

It opened higher by 15 paise at 72.30 per dollar. On Monday, it ended at record closing low of 72.45 per dollar, down by 72 paise against Friday's close of 71.73.

Besides, unabated foreign fund outflows, sharp plunge in domestic equities with the benchmark Sensex crashing by over 500 points, too, weighed on the domestic unit, dealers said.

The rupee Tuesday opened on a positive note by inching 20 paise higher at 72.25 against the US dollar amid increased selling by banks and exporters.

The currency, however, failed to sustain strength and weakened to hit a fresh lifetime low of 72.73, down by 28 paise over its previous closing of 72.45.

It breached its previous record low (intra-day) of 72.67 hit Monday. There were no signs of change in trading preference of foreign portfolio investors who sold shares worth a net of Rs 841.68 crore.

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) also offloaded equities worth a net of Rs 289.66 crore Monday, according to provision data. Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex plunged 509.04 points, or 1.34 per cent, to close at 37,413.13 in Tuesday's session.