Mumbai, May 15 -- The Indian rupee crashed below the 96/$mark on Friday before closing at an all-time low of 95.81 against the US dollar as elevated crude oil prices and inflation concerns added to the downside pressure on the rupee.

Rupee has registered over 6 per cent losses so far this year, and in the past six trading sessions, it has depreciated nearly 2 per cent as Iran war risk escalation pushed crude oil prices higher. The dollar index moved northwards after strong US retail sales and stable labour market data reduced expectations of aggressive Federal Reserve rate cuts.

Forex traders said global uncertainties, relatively high valuations, and the lack of AI-led investment opportunities have weighed on capital flows.

Moreover, weak net FDI inflows are likely to exert pressure on the balance of payments, while rising crude oil prices stoke inflation worries.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 95.86, then slumped to a record low of 96.14 in intraday trade, registering a fall of 50 paise from its previous close.

The USD/INR pair finally settled at its lowest-ever closing level of 95.81 against the US dollar, registering a fall of 17 paise from its previous close, helped by likely RBI intervention.

On Thursday, the rupee weakened to a fresh record low of 95.96 before closing with a marginal gain of 2 paise at 95.64 against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading at 99.15, higher by 0.34 per cent.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading up 3.14 per cent at $109.04 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, Sensex fell 160.73 points to settle at 75,237.99, while Nifty declined 46.10 points to 23,643.50.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) turned net buyers, purchasing equities worth Rs 187.46 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

"We expect the rupee to trade with a negative bias on elevated crude oil prices and inflation concerns. Strong dollar and FII outflows may also weigh on the rupee. However, any intervention by the RBI and hiking of import duty on gold and silver may support the rupee at lower levels. USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of 95.60 to 96.20," said Anuj Choudhary, Research analyst at Mirae Asset

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Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.