The rupee on Thursday inched closer to hitting the 80-mark against the US dollar, settling at 79.99 after dropping by 18 paise, reported PTI. The currency started on a positive note and touched its intra-day high of 79.71 but finished at a new record low.
This is the fourth consecutive session that the rupee has recorded new lows. This is also the 27th time the rupee has hit a new lifetime low since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, reported NDTV.
“The Indian rupee becomes the median performer among the regional currencies,” Dilip Parmar, a research analyst at HDFC Securities, told PTI. “The rupee closed at a record low for the fourth day in a row amid safe-haven demand for the dollar after US inflation surged to a 41-year high.”
The development came on the day when the government released its data on the wholesale inflation rate for June. Though the indicator of price rise in wholesale markets dropped marginally to 15.18% in June from the three-decade high of 15.88% in May, it has remained in double digits since April last year.
“The high rate of inflation in June 2022 is primarily due to a rise in prices of mineral oils, food articles, crude petroleum and natural gas, basic metals, chemicals and chemical products, food products etc. as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year,” the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement.
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