The rupee slumped 66 paise to 81.57 against the US dollar
in morning trade on Wednesday, following the strength of the American currency
in the overseas market and a muted trend in domestic equities.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the local unit began at
81.41 against the dollar, then lost ground to quote at 81.57, recording a loss
of 66 paise over its previous close.

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The rupee gained 37 paise to settle at 80.91 against the US
dollar on Tuesday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength
against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.17% to 106.58.

The Japanese yen and South Korea’s won were among the
worst-performing Asian currencies on Wednesday, falling 0.7% and 1.1% to the
dollar, respectively, while the Chinese yuan lost 0.6%.

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The Indonesian rupiah led losses across Southeast Asia with
a 0.5% decline. 

The euro was up 0.11% at $1.0361, having lost 0.18% earlier
in Asian trade. The currency saw a similar move overnight.

Risk-sensitive Antipodean currencies also witnessed losses,
with the Australian dollar down 0.9% against the greenback at $0.675. The New
Zealand dollar fell 0.23% to $0.614.

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Brent crude futures, the international oil benchmark, fell
0.36% to USD 93.52 per barrel.

In the domestic stock market, the Sensex was trading at
72.09 points or 0.12% down from 61,800.90. The Nifty was trading lower by 24.60
points or 0.13% to 18,378.80.

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According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional
investors (FIIs) were net sellers in capital markets as they offloaded shares
worth Rs 221.32 crore on Tuesday.

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On the domestic macroeconomic front, India’s exports
entered negative territory after a gap of about two years, falling sharply by
16.65% to USD 29.78 billion in October. The trade deficit widened to USD 26.91
billion, as per data released by the commerce ministry on Tuesday.