The Indian rupee opened lower against the U.S. dollar on Thursday as domestic equities fell following the Federal Reserve's decision to extend "Operation Twist" and not implement a third round of quantitative easing that investors had expected.
The Fed said it will expand Operation Twist, replacing short-term securities in the Fed's bond portfolio with longer-term securities by $267 billion through 2012, in an effort to push already low long-term interest rates even lower.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the move was one of the ways the central bank could boost the economy since the most traditional policy action, the lowering of interest rates, is essentially not available.
The rupee dipped to 56.4555 against the dollar for the first time since May 31. If the rupee slides further, it may break record low of 56.51 hit last month. The pair ended Wednesday's deals at 56.1550.
by RTT Staff Writer
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