RUPEE WORST HISTORIC FALL

Continuing its free fall, the rupee today breached 63-mark a dollar to end at record low of 63.13, recording the decade's worst single-day fall of 148 paise. Weighed down by heavy dollar demand and fall in stocks markets, the rupee fell to historic intra-day low of 63.30. At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local currency opened sharply lower at 62.30 a dollar from its previous close of 61.65 but tried to recover later to a high of 62.21. Rupee again turned negative and finally ended at 63.13, logging a fall of a massive 148 paise or 2.40 per cent. The previous biggest fall in decade was the 124 paise or 2.57 per cent plunge on September 22, 2011. Sentimentwise rupee falling to 63.30 will further be negative for market sentiment, said Ajay Marwaha, Executive Vice President and Head, Trading, in the Treasury, HDFC Bank.