Re dips to record low past 51/$ .

Rupee breached the psychological 51 per US dollar mark and plummeted to a record low against dollar as banks continuously bought the greenback for importers and foreign institutional investors (FIIs).

The US unit’s rise against most Asian currencies and in the non-deliverable forwards market also prompted most traders to build long dollar positions, dealers said.

The Indian unit ended at 51.15 per dollar compared with 50.4700 on Thursday after oscillating between 50.5300 and 51.1700 intraday.

Local shares were weak intraday and there was some outflows from foreign funds, a dealer with a European bank said. Both Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex and National Stock Exchange Nifty ended down nearly 1% from the respective previous close.

So far in February, foreign funds have sold equities worth $599.90 million. They sold shares worth $59.20 million on Thursday alone, according to Securities and Exchange Board of India data.

“Noting the rupee’s sharp depreciation, some importers also rushed to buy dollars, which accentuated rupee’s fall,” the dealer said.