June 4 (Punjab Khabarnama) : The rupee on Tuesday fell by a massive 45 paise to 83.59 per dollar (provisional) against the US currency amid panic in the stock market over diminishing chances of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) getting a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha elections. Forex traders said that the disappointment was further aggravated by heavy selling in the domestic stock market and the dollar strengthening against major foreign currencies.
The rupee opened weak at 83.25 in the interbank foreign exchange market and during the trading, the rupee fluctuated between the upper level of 83.23 and the lower level of 83.59 against the dollar. At the end of trading, the rupee closed at 83.59 (provisional) against the dollar, which is a huge decline of 45 paise from the previous close price. On Monday, the rupee closed at 83.14 against the US dollar. The results of the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections on Tuesday have not been that encouraging for the BJP-led alliance in the counting of votes. Apart from this, the possibility of BJP getting a clear majority on its own also seems very less. Its effect was seen on both the stock market and the foreign exchange market.
Anuj Chaudhary, research analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas, said, “The rupee fell sharply due to a sharp fall in the domestic markets amid uncertainty over the election results. Due to this, foreign investors also sold some money. The US dollar recovered from the losses incurred a day earlier due to disappointing employment figures.” The dollar index, which shows the strength of the dollar against the world’s six major currencies, rose 0.17 percent to 104.25.
Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 1.88 percent to $ 76.89 per barrel. In the domestic stock market, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 4,389.73 points or 5.74 percent to 72,079.05 points. The NSE Nifty also fell 1,379.40 points or 5.93 percent to close at 21,884.50. On Monday, foreign institutional investors had made net purchases of shares worth Rs 6,850.76 crore.