Mumbai

The Indian rupee slumped to a new record low of 79.49 against the US dollar on Monday amid weakness in the equities markets.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee started trading on Monday at 79.30 against the US dollar against its Friday's close at 79.25.

The rupee closed at 79.48 at the end of the day.

This is the new all-time low of the value of the Indian currency against the US dollar. The rupee's previous record low was 79.38 last week.

The rupee has weakened amid the selling pressure in the equities markets. Indian stock markets' key indices, Sensex and Nifty, fell on Monday dragged by heavy selling pressure in IT and telecom stocks.

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A widening trade deficit due to high imports has put pressure on the value of the Indian currency.