Rupee hits historic low of 64.43 as emerging market currencies routed

Updated: Wednesday, August 21, 2013, 14:47 [IST]

Rupee hits historic low of 64.43 as emerging markets hit

INR

83.515

The Indian rupee tumbled in trade hitting a new all time low of 64.44 against the dollar, as emerging market currencies including the Indonesian Rupiah, South African Rand and the Mexican Peso all slid in trade against the US dollar.

The Indian rupee hit an all time low of 64.44 against the dollar, a good 124 paise fall over Tuesday's close. The slump in the Indian rupee and other major currencies was ahead of the Fed minutes of the July meeting, which is likely to provide hints over when the Fed would announce QE tapering. The Indonesian Rupiah was down 0.86 per cent against the dollar, while the South African Rand lost 0.50 per cent.

Currencies of emerging market countries like Indonesia and India fell faster on account of the huge current account deficit that these countries have.

There are fears that the tapering-off of QE3 would lead to withdrawal of money from stock markets of these countries leading to the inability of these countries to fund their current account deficits.Check currency rates here

Dealers say that the RBI likely sold dollars at around 64.30 levels, which prompted some recovery in the rupee at 64.22.

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