Indian rupee Vs dollar today: Rupee tumbles by 0.15% as Sensex, Nifty bleed

Indian rupee tumbled today against US benchmark dollar index at the forex market on increased demand for the US currency from importers and foreign fund outflows. At 1020 hours, the domestic unit was trading at 64.918, down by 0.096 or 0.15% against US dollar, however, in early trade the rupee  depreciated 3 paisa to 64.96 per dollar.  
 
Quoting dealers a PTI report said, "Strength in dollar against other currencies overseas as traders eye next week's US Federal Reserve meeting, and a lower opening in domestic equities kept pressure on the domestic unit."
 
In previous trading session, the rupee closed lower by 10 paise to end at 64.93 against the American currency,
which reportedly was due to sustained foreign fund outflows amid growing prospects of rate hike by the US Fed next week.
 
Data released by the Commerce Ministry on Thursday showed, exports rose by 4.5% in February - which would be the lowest expansion in the last four months, to $25.8 billion as shipments of engineering, textiles and gems and jewellery declined, while trade deficit narrowed to a five-month low of $12 billion.
 
At the same time, foreign investors on Thursday made gross purchase of Rs 6,858.61 crore, while made gross selling of Rs 6,153.79 crore, which would mean that these investors made an inflow of Rs 704.82 crore together in equity, debt and hybrid market in India. 
 
Moreover, Sensex was trading at 33,478.18 down by 207.36  points or 0.62%, while Nifty 50 was below 62.95 points or 0.61% trading at 10,297.20.