Indian rupee closes at record low of 60.71/dollar

Indian rupee breached 60 level on dollar demand Wednesday, hitting a record low at 60.76 per dollar, down by Rs 1.1 compared to previous day's closing of 59.66. It closed at all-time low of 60.71 per dollar.

Dealers say the rupee is at all-time low as banks' stop losses triggered, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting cogencis.

It depreciated by 7 percent in month of June and 12 percent since May 1.

Claudio Piron, Head of Emerging Asia FX & Fixed Income Strategy, Bank of America expressed concerns about the weakness in Indian currency.

Piron sees rupee touching 61-62 against dollar in the short term. "However, I think that would only last for a couple of months and then we will resume an improvement, because in longer term the Indian rupee, the fundamentals and the current account position will start to improve," he added.

Exporters like technology and healthcare companies will be benefitted from the rupee depreciation, but the companies, which have a dollar debt, will get impacted quite badly.

Indian equity benchmarks are also under pressure. The BSE Sensex is down 93.86 points or 0.50 percent at 18535.29, and the Nifty is down 23.35 points or 0.42 percent at 5585.75.

Precious metals are also under pressure today with the gold futures falling below Rs 26,000 per 10 gram and silver below Rs 40,000 per kg on MCX.