Downbeat figures of December quarter GDP and fiscal deficit for April-January which were released on Friday coupled with negative domestic stock markets were also seen putting pressure on the rupee, forex traders said.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit commenced lower at 61.95 a dollar from last Friday's close of 61.75. It tried to recover on initial dollar selling by exporters to touch a high of 61.83.
Safe-haven driven fresh dollar demand from importers amid escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine weighed on the emerging market currencies, including India's rupee.
The dollar index was up 0.10 per cent against a basket of six major global rivals. Russia's ruble was down a whopping 9 per cent.
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The Indian benchmark S&P BSE Sensex today plunged 173.47 points, snapping five sessions of gains. FIIs picked up shares worth USD 97.92 million last Friday, as per Sebi data.
Initial weakness was mainly attributed to the downbeat figures of GDP and fiscal deficit which were released on Friday, said Abhishek Goenka, Founder & CEO, India Forex Advisors.
Indian economy grew below expectations at 4.7 per cent in October-December. Fiscal deficit in the 10 months through January 2014 overshot revised estimates of Rs 5.24 lakh crore for this fiscal.