For the first time ever, the Indian rupee crossed the 95 per dollar barrier on Monday, reaching 95. 2 against the US dollar, a 0. 3% decline.

It finished at a record closing low of 94. 83 per dollar, down from 94. 81 on Friday.

In March, the value of the currency fell by 4. 4% against the US dollar.

Following the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to lower the net open position restriction that banks can hold overnight to $100 million, the rupee began with a strong start but subsequently lost ground, falling 160 paise from its opening level.

Additionally, the rupee continued its weekly decline of around 1% last week, its fourth week in a row, reaching a record low of 94. 84 versus the dollar.

In the after-hours market on Friday, the central bank announced that banks must make sure that their net open rupee positions in the onshore deliverable market do not exceed $100 million at the conclusion of each business day by April 10.

The value of these positions is estimated to be between $25 billion and more than $50 billion.

Due to concerns about increasing oil costs, Indian equities are on pace for their worst monthly decline since March 2020, while bonds are on track for their weakest fiscal year since 2023.

Rising tensions in the West Asia conflict have also caused world crude oil prices to increase.

Brent crude futures traded close to a new 52-week high when they surged 3% to an intraday high of $116. 70 a barrel. In the meantime, the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) increased by more than 3% to reach over $103 a barrel.

Due to geopolitical conflicts, the rupee lost more than 4% in March.

The Sensex ended the day at 71,947. 55, a loss of 1,635. 67 points, or 2. 2%, while the Nifty closed at 22,331. 40, a decrease of 488. 20 points, or 2. 14%, on the domestic equity market.

According to exchange data, overseas institutional investors sold a net amount of Rs 4,367. 30 crore worth of shares on last week.