Muscat, Oct 3 - The Indian rupee fell to an all-time record low breaching the 73 mark per dollar in intra-day trade on Wednesday. Reports from local money exchanges indicate that there has not been any unprecedented rush of customers despite the fresh drop in the currency.
One Omani rial fetched one hundred ninety rupees and thirty paisa in the morning trade on Wednesday.
Money exchanges in the Sultanate are offering Rs 190 for an Omani rial. After opening at all-time low the Indian rupee slipped further and touched the intra-day low of 73.42 against dollar.
“Customers hope that the rupee will weaken further in the coming days on account of rising crude oil prices and the high current account deficit in India,” said Philip Koshy General Manager, Modern Money Exchange.
Financial experts expect more pain for rupee on the back of reports that the trade deficit for August is likely to increase.
They predict that the currency may touch $75 in the coming days.
“All depends on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) policy announcement due this week. Expectation is that the the Reserve Bank may consider raising rates in its meeting on Friday”, said Jose Chacko, a financial expert in Muscat.
The apex bank has already raised interest rates twice since June
and depleted billions of dollars to bolster the currency, but with little success.
Other emerging currencies also weakened while the dollar index was at 95.334 after scaling 95.744 overnight, its highest since September 4.
Prices of Brent crude is now at four-year high on fears that global supplies will drop due to Washington’s sanctions on Iran’s oil industry due to go into effect on November 4.
Supply from Iran has been at its peak this year and reached nearly three per cent of the world’s daily consumption.
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