Mumbai: The Indian rupee plunged 25 paise to 73.85 against the US dollar in opening trade Thursday, weighed down by the uptrend in the dollar index and importer hedging.
Forex traders said a muted trend in domestic equities also dragged the local unit down.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 73.77 against the dollar, then fell to 73.85, registering a decline of 25 paise from the last close.
In the previous session, the rupee had settled at 73.60 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.08 per cent to 92.72.
“Importers hedging dollars will continue to weigh on the currency,” Reliance Securities said in a research note adding that most emerging market and Asian currencies have started mostly weak this Thursday morning.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 802.51 crore, as per exchange data.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share index was trading 84.31 points or 0.14 per cent lower at 58,165.95. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty was trading 33.80 points or 0.19 per cent down at 17,319.70.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures advanced 0.10 per cent to USD 72.67 per barrel.