The rupee's collapse marched slightly ahead as investors waited with bated breath for the key US inflation data, which is predicted to show price pressures surged to a 40-year peak and further boost a rampant dollar.
The rupee weakened sharply to 79.57 against the dollar as the US currency jumped to a near two decade high driven by increased safety bets on global recession fears.
The rupee collapsed to close provisionally at 79.6o against the greenback as the safe-haven stampede into dollar-denominated assets brushed aside almost every other currency, including the euro, which was on the brink of parity with the US currency for the first time since 2002.
The rupee is just a hop, skip and jump away from 80 per dollar, underscoring a dramatic collapse this year in a journey which includes a breach of several key psychological levels, something none expected even in their wildest predictions at the start of 2022.
There is no respite for the battered rupee, with the currency ending at about 79.30 per dollar on Wednesday, not very far from its all-time weak close in the previous session.