The rupee hit a fresh all-time low against the US dollar this morning amid heavy demand for the greenback, mounting global risk aversion and India's worsening growth outlook.

However, speculative reports that the RBI has asked public sector oil companies to restrict purchases of dollars to four state-run banks lifted the local currency in intraday trade.

The rupee lost some of the steam after senior officials from the RBI and state-run oil companies denied the reports.

The rupee closed the day at 56.11 per dollar after touching a record low of 56.52 and a day's high of 55.73. It had opened at 56.4950 as against the previous close of 56.2325.

The undertone was cautious after the release of disappointing Q4 GDP data.

GDP grew by 5.3% in the January to March quarter of FY12 from the year-ago period, after expanding by 6.1% YoY in the third quarter, the Government said today.

Economists had forecast a GDP growth of 6.1% in Q4 FY12.

This was the lowest GDP growth in nine years.

India's GDP growth in the second quarter stood at 6.7% while the same in the first quarter was at 8%. India's GDP grew by an impressive 9.2% in the fourth quarter of FY11.

The Indian economy expanded by 6.5% in the year ended March 31, 2012 as against the Government's provisional forecast of 6.9%, the CSO data showed today.

India's GDP grew by 8.4% in FY11. The Government expects India's economy to grow by 7.6% in FY13.

The BSE Sensex closed at 16,218, down 93 points or ~0.6% from the last close. It earlier touched a day’s low of 16,086 and a day’s high of 16,277. It opened at 16,224.

 

The NSE Nifty ended at 4,924, down 26 points or 0.5% compared to the previous close. It earlier hit a day’s low of 4,883 and a day’s high of 4,949. It opened at 4,896.

Meanwhile, India's infrastructure sector growth declined to 2.2% in April 2012 versus 4.2% in the same month a year earlier, the Government said today. Core sector growth stood at 2.2% in March of this year.

India's fiscal deficit during FY12 stood at 5.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) as against the Government's revised estimate of 5.9%, data released by the controller general of accounts (CGA) showed on Thursday.

Fiscal deficit was Rs. 5.09 trillion as against the revised estimate of Rs. 5.21 trillion, as per CGA data.

 
In the global currency markets action, the euro rose from a two-year low against the US dollar as Spanish and Italian bonds rallied amid speculation that the European Central Bank (ECB) will announce measures to combat the debt crisis when it meets next week.

The 17-member currency pared its biggest monthly decline this year against the dollar as polls suggested that Irish voters will approve the more stringent budget
rules, although analysts said the outcome is far from certain.

The dollar weakened against most currency rivals. The Norwegian krone and Swedish krona led gains in higher-yielding currencies.

The euro is down 6.3% versus the dollar this month, the most since September, and is down 7.5% against the yen.

The Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against six major world currencies, slid 0.2% to 82.86 after rising to 83.11, the most since September 2010.

Asian currencies had the biggest monthly loss since September as China’s economy slowed and a banking crisis in Spain curbed appetite for emerging-market assets.

The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index lost 2.7% since April 30.

India’s rupee led the losses for the Asian currencies, reaching a record low today as the Government said that the economy grew by 5.3% in the January to March quarter, the smallest gain in nine years.

Indonesia’s rupiah fell to the weakest level since November 2009 while China’s yuan and Malaysia’s ringgit both touched their lowest levels this year.