Business

The Indian rupee dropped to a record low in opening deals on Thursday with investor sentiment affected by a widening trade deficit on the domestic front and the broad rise in the U.S. dollar versus other Asian peers.

The dollar held near a 13-month peak on Thursday as political turmoil in Turkey and concerns about China's economic health continued to support safe-haven assets and weighed on emerging market currencies. The partially convertible rupee was trading at 70.25/26 per dollar, at 0343 GMT, versus its Tuesday's close of 69.90/91.

Markets were closed on Wednesday for a national holiday. The rupee hit a record low of 70.32 earlier in the session. India's trade deficit widened to a more-than-five-year high of $18.02 billion in July, the trade ministry said on Tuesday, driven largely by a surge in oil imports.