By laksh5382 
Rupee The US dollar on Tuesday closed one paisa higher at 84.90 (provisional) against the US dollar due to disappointing trade balance data and weak domestic markets.
Forex traders said the rupee is likely to remain under pressure due to concerns about a slowdown in the economy and demand for the dollar from importers and foreign banks.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 84.89 and touched an all-time low of 84.93 against the greenback in intra-day trade.
The unit finally ended the session with a marginal gain of 1 paise at 84.90 (provisional) against the dollar.
On Monday, the rupee fell by 11 paise and closed at an all-time low of 84.91 against the US dollar.
“We expect the rupee to trade with a negative bias due to weak domestic markets and concerns of a slowdown in the economy. A stronger US dollar and FII outflows may put further pressure on the rupee,” said Anuj Chaudhary, research analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.
On the domestic macroeconomic front, India’s exports declined 4.85 per cent year-on-year to US$ 32.11 billion in November, while the trade deficit widened to an all-time high of US$ 37.84 billion due to a record rise in gold imports.
The country’s gold imports hit a record high of US$14.86 billion in November, registering a four-fold increase mainly due to festival and wedding demand, according to commerce ministry data.
Gold imports in November 2023 stood at US $ 3.44 billion.
“Traders can take cues from retail sales and industrial production data from the US. Investors can keep an eye on the decision of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting later this week. Chaudhary said, USDINR spot price is expected to remain in the range of 84.75 to 85.15.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.17 percent higher at 107.03.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude fell 0.49 per cent to US$73.55 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex closed at 80,684.45, down 1,064.12 points or 1.30 per cent. Nifty was down 332.25 points or 1.35 percent at 24,336.00.
According to exchange data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold Rs 278.70 crore on a net basis in the capital market on Monday.