Mumbai: The Indian rupee fell on Friday afternoon, as Asian shares tumbled following Dubai’s debt woes, sparking concerns that foreign investors may cut exposure to domestic equities.
At 3:50pm, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs46.72/74 per dollar, off a three-week trough of Rs47.07, but weaker than Thursday’s close of Rs46.44/45.
The Indian benchmark index ended down 1.3% as Dubai’s debt problems raised worries foreign funds may lose risk appetite. Dubai said two of its flagship firms planned to delay repayment on billions of dollar of debt.
The emirate shook markets on Wednesday when it said it would ask creditors of state-backed Dubai World and one of its units to agree to delayed debt repayments as a step towards restructuring.
Dubai World has $59 billion of liabilities, representing a large part of Dubai’s total debt of $80 billion.
