After closing at a record 70.59 apiece a dollar in Wednesday's trade, rupee's movement took another hit as it plunged to new record of 70.63 in the opening trade, weakening further by 4 paise. At 9:22 am, the currency was quoting at a new low of 70.80.

The decline in the rupee is due to the renewed demand for the American greenback which after gaining quite for some time, reached levels of 4-week low as the probable outcome of the US-China trade tension is due in some time.

Also, the continued demand from importers and banks that chiefly includes oil refiners due to the higher crude oil price is putting a pressure on the Indian currency.

As per the Kotak Bank's report, rupee dollar pair is likely to trade in the range of 70.4 to 70.8 per dollar.

Meanwhile, equity indices remained largely flat ahead of August F&O expiry.

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