Rupee falls 22 paise to 70.32 against US dollar

Mumbai: The rupee weakened by 22 paise to 70.32 against the US dollar on Wednesday, hurt by fresh demand for the American currency from importers.

Traders said besides fresh demand of the US currency from importers, dollar's strength against some currencies overseas weighed on the domestic unit. 

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex rose nearly 100 points to hit another record of 38,989.65, and Nifty too hit a peak of 11,751.05, up 12.55 points or 0.11 per cent. 

On Tuesday, the rupee had bounced back from the record closing low, gaining 6 paise to end at 70.10 against the US currency largely tracking bearish dollar cues overseas. Most Asian currencies had also recouped early losses against the greenback.

Official data showed that foreign direct investment in India grew by 23 per cent to USD 12.75 billion during the April-June quarter of 2018-19. A report said that the foreign fund inflows would help finance the current account deficit which is expected to widen to 2.8 per cent of the GDP in 2018-19.

The Financial Benchmarks India private limited (FBIL), meanwhile, fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 70.1687 and for the euro at 81.9266.

Crude price had on Tuesday breached the USD 76-mark - its highest since July supported by supply risks emerging from Venezuela, Africa and Iran.