The Indian rupee extended decline to a two-month low to settle lower by 55 paise to 86.07 (provisional) against the US dollar due to a spike in global oil prices and a firm dollar amid rising tensions in the Middle East following Israel's attack on Iran's nuclear sites. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose sharply by 7.27 per cent to USD 74.40 per barrel in futures trade. Indian shares fell sharply on Friday, tracking weak cues from global markets after Israel launched strikes against Iran, targeting nuclear facilities and ballistic missile factories as part of efforts to damage Iran's nuclear infrastructure, its ballistic missile factories and military capabilities. Markets also remained cautious on the U.S.-China trade deal. The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex hit an intra-day low of 80,354.59 before recovering some ground to end the session down 573.28 points, or 0.70 percent, at 81,118.60. The broader NSE Nifty index closed down 169.60 points, or 0.68 percent, at 24,718.60, after having hit a low of 24,473 earlier. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 86.25 against the greenback and traded in the range of 85.92-86.25. The local unit had settled at 85.52 on Thursday. On the NSE, USDINR pair rose nearly 0.70% to end at 86.16.
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