Mumbai : India's rupee slid to a five-week low, tracking losses in Asian stocks and currencies, as investors sought the relative safety of the dollar over emerging-market assets on concern the debt crisis in Europe will worsen.
The rupee slumped 0.7 per cent to 44.94 per dollar as of the 5pm close in Mumbai. It dropped as low as 44.985 earlier in the day.
The currency dropped the most in more than two weeks as the MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index of regional shares lost 1.7 per cent. Bonds have tumbled in Greece, Spain and Portugal after Standard & Poor's downgraded the countries last week amid mounting concern about their ability to cut budget deficits.
"Financial markets are in correction globally, thanks to heightened concerns that the European debt problems are spreading," said R.V.S. Sridhar, senior vice-president at Axis Bank in Mumbai.
