The Indian rupee weakened by 8 paise to 88.67 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday, Nov 18, as domestic equities came under pressure and global trade-related uncertainties weighed on sentiment.
Forex analysts noted that a weak American currency, lower crude oil prices, and select foreign inflows into Indian stocks were not enough to support the rupee. Concerns around rising import bills and the country’s widening trade deficit continued to influence trading behaviour.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 88.67, slipped to 88.69, and later moved to 88.68 in initial deals, marking an 8-paise decline from Monday’s close. On Monday, Nov 17, the rupee had settled 7 paise higher at 88.59.
The dollar index was trading 0.05% lower at 99.43, while Brent crude dipped 0.47% to $63.90 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity front, the Sensex fell 151.86 points (0.18%) to 84,799.09, and the Nifty slipped 44.50 points (0.17%) to 25,967.30 in early trade.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers, purchasing equities worth ₹442.17 crore on Monday.
Government data released on Monday showed that India’s exports fell 11.8% to $34.38 billion in October, impacted by elevated US tariffs. The trade deficit widened to a record $41.68 billion, driven largely by higher gold imports.
Imports rose 16.63% to $76.06 billion, led by sharp increases in shipments of gold, silver, cotton raw/waste, fertiliser, and sulphur.
Gold imports surged about 200% to $14.72 billion, while silver imports jumped 528.71% to $2.71 billion in October.
Crude oil imports, however, declined to $14.8 billion, compared to $18.9 billion a year earlier.
