INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
currency slumped to a record weak close of 76.93 on Monday, as crude oil prices climbed to multi-year highs driven by the Russia-Ukraine
crisis.According to Bloomberg, the rupee was last trading at 76.9362 per dollar, while Reuters quoted it at 76.94.25 per dollar.The Press
Trust of India has reported the rupee opened on a weak note at 77.02 against the US dollar, then pared its initial losses and touched 76.73
earlier in the day, registering a gain of 20 paise from the previous close.On Monday, the rupee tanked nearly 1 per cent to close at a
record low of 76.93, sliding for the fourth straight session, according to a Press Trust of India (PTI) report.During Monday's trade, the
dollar as the deepening Russia-Ukraine conflict has sapped risk appetite in the market while prompting safe-haven flows into the US dollar,"
Sugandha Sachdeva, Vice President for Commodity and Currency Research at Religare Broking, told PTI.Besides, the parabolic rise in crude oil
prices towards multi-year highs and spiralling commodity prices are fuelling inflationary risks, a key headwind for the rupee-dollar
exchange rate, Mr Sachdev added.Both the US crude and the global oil benchmark Brent soared to highs seen just before the 2008 financial
crisis as the United States and Europe kept open the option of banning supplies from Russia, which provides about 10 per cent of world oil
supply.As Ukraine peace talks made little headway, the prospect of that ban on oil imports from Russia has triggered investor fears over
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak in a statement on state television.Oil prices see-sawed on Tuesday, torn between the Western
