Rupee back at over two-year lows, falls 21 paise

Mumbai: The rupee dropped further by 21 paise to Rs 65.21 following sustained bouts of dollar demand from importers amid higher greenback overseas on the back of weak domestic equity market. The domestic currency on Thursday had plummeted by 32 paise to 65.10 against the dollar, hitting its weakest level last seen in September 2013, as China further devalued yuan.

The rupee resumed lower at 65.12 per dollar as against last weekend's level of 65.00 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market. It moved in a range of 65.26 and 65.12 per dollar during the morning deals before quoting at 65.21 at 1030 hrs. The dollar index was up by 0.13 per cent at 96.73 as against a basket of six currencies in the early trade. At the Asian trade, the dollar started the week on a firmer footing early today as traders looked to the prospects of a US rate hike next month.

Oil prices resumed their decline in early today as a global glut of crude supplies showed no signs of abating in the face of sluggish demand, analysts said. Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex was trading down by 274.35 points or 0.98 per cent to 27,792.96 at 1035 hrs