The Indian rupee closed at a record low of Rs 71.58 against the United States dollar on Tuesday, declining 37 paise. On Monday, the currency had tumbled to 71.21, its lowest closing value until then.
The 21-paise slump on Monday had come despite robust economic growth data released by the Indian government after market hours on Friday. The decline on Tuesday was because of a strong demand for dollars from importers, concerns over crude oil prices and outflows of foreign funds.
The outflows affected the BSE Sensex, which fell for the fifth straight session. The 30-share index fell 154.60 points to close at 38,157.92, with FMCG and banking stocks performing the worst. The National Stock Exchange Nifty declined 62.05 points to close at 11,520.30.
Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Axis Bank and Reliance were the top five stocks on the Sensex. On the Nifty, the stocks which rose the most were Infosys, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro.
The shares of Asian Paints, State Bank of India, Adani Ports, Hindustan Unilever and Coal India declined the most on the 30-share index. On the Nifty 50, the biggest losers were Grasim, UltraTech Cement, Asian Paints, Indiabulls Housing Finance and Titan Company.
Other Asian markets had a mixed day. The Hong Kong Hang Seng surged by over 260 points. The Taiwan TSEC 50 Index rose over 57 points, and the Shanghai SE Composite Index nearly 30 points. However, the Australia ASX All Ordinaries market declined slightly to finish over 17 points down.
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