The rupee fell 40 paise to close below the 82 per US dollar mark on Thursday, weighed down by foreign fund outflows and corporate dollar demand.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 81.81 against the greenback, and touched an intra-day high of 81.71 and a low of 82.20.

It finally settled at 82.20 (provisional), down 40 paise over its previous close.

On Wednesday, the rupee had appreciated 8 paise to close at 81.80 against the dollar after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for 2023-24.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.12 per cent lower at 101.10, after the US Fed hiked the interest rate along expected lines by 25 basis points to 4.50-4.75 per cent.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures declined 0.14 per cent to USD 82.72 per barrel.

"The Indian rupee became the worst performer among Asian currencies amid foreign fund outflows and corporate dollar demand from hedgers. The weakness in the regional currencies and higher precious metal prices also weighed on the rupee," said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.

Parmar further said "spot USD-INR has crossed 82.10, the 50-day simple moving average, paving the way for 82.50 and 82.96 while on the downside 81.80 becomes the strong support." The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 224.16 points or 0.38 per cent higher at 59,932.24, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 5.90 points or 0.03 per cent to 17,610.40.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned net buyers in the capital markets on Wednesday as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,785.21 crore, according to exchange data.

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