Rupee slumps 24 paise to 73.66 against US dollar in early trade

Mumbai: The Indian rupee slumped 24 paise to 73.66 against the US dollar in opening trade on Wednesday, after the Reserve Bank of India maintained status quo on policy rates for the fifth time in a row.

The central bank kept its key policy repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent, but warned that the recent surge in COVID-19 infections has created uncertainty over economic growth recovery.

At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 73.52 against the US dollar, then fell further to 73.66, registering a fall of 24 paise over its previous close.

On Tuesday, the rupee had settled at 73.42 against the American currency.

Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday expectedly left interest rates unchanged and maintained an accommodative stance as the economy faces a renewed threat to growth due to the resurgence of coronavirus cases.

The number of new coronavirus cases in India hit a record daily high since the outbreak of the pandemic with over 1.15 lakh new infections being reported in a span of 24 hours, pushing the nationwide COVID-19 tally to 1,28,01,785, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.01 per cent to 92.32.

In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 305.84 points higher at 49,507.23, and the broader NSE Nifty advanced 85.95 points to 14,769.45.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,092.75 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.46 per cent to USD 63.03 per barrel.