Rupee weakens against US dollar

The global uncertainties and domestic weakness owing to the apex court ruling against the telecom companies dragged the currency down against US dollar on Friday.

In the early trade on Friday, Indian rupee weakened against the US dollar, reacting to the weak opening in domestic equities led by telecom and banking stocks after the Supreme Court (SC) dismissed the pleas of the telecom majors. Notably, the telecom companies had earlier asked SC to review the recovery of past AGR dues amounting to Rs 1.47 lakh crore.

In addition to this, a rise in crude oil prices and foreign fund outflows too weighed on the domestic currency. The FIIs were net sellers who sold shares worth Rs 395.24 crore on Thursday. On the global front, the dollar gained as upbeat US retail sales and jobs data suggested the world's largest economy and maintained a moderate growth pace at the end of 2019, reaching an eight-month peak against the safe-haven yen, while the yuan got a lift after China's economic data brightened the mood, already cheered by US-China trade deal.

The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 70.97, weaker by 4 paise from its previous close of 70.93 on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of 71.00 and 70.94, respectively.