The rupee today ended lower by 23 paise to close at an over two-week low of 67.31 against the US currency on heavy bouts of dollar demand amid uncertainty in the wake of RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s decision against pursuing a second stint.

Rajan, whose tenure as the RBI chief will end on September 4, had on last Saturday said he will not be seeking an extension as the governor.

The home currency opened sharply lower at 67.65 per dollar as against the last weekend’s level of 67.08 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market and dropped further to one-month low of 67.70 on initial heavy dollar demand.

However, it recovered afterwards to 67.28 in view of a sharp recovery in equity market on hopes of robust foreign capital inflows following government’s announcement of a further liberation of foreign direct investment coupled with sharp rise in global market before ending at 2-week low of 67.31 per dollar, still showing a loss of 23 paise or 0.34 per cent.

The domestic currency had ended higher by 13 paise or 0.19 per cent on last Friday.

The local currency hovered in a range of 67.28 and 67.70 per dollar during the day.

Meanwhile, the dollar index was down by 0.48 per cent at against the basket of six global currencies in the late afternoon trade.

The RBI fixed the reference rate for the $ at 67.4087 and € at 76.5358.

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