The Indian rupee hit a 17-month low at 44.20/23, 28 paise cheaper from its last close against the greenback, during morning trading of Monday on heavy dollar demand from importers amid weak equity markets.
In fairly active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the domestic currency opened lower at 44.20/23 a dollar from its last weekend’s close of 43.92/93 a dollar as oil refiners stepped dollar purchases after global crude oil prices surged in Asian trade.
The rupee later recovered to 44.14/15 a dollar in late morning deals. The local unit had last touched this level on March 14 last year when it closed at 44.2450/2525 against dollar.
Forex dealers said there was heavy dollar demand from oil companies following a rise in global crude prices by nearly one dollar to 116.40 dollar a barrel in Asian trade today.