Halting its three-day winning run, the rupee on Monday tumbled by 17 paise to close at 72.62 against the American currency as stronger US dollar against key rivals and surging crude oil prices weighed on sentiment. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the domestic currency opened at 72.38 a dollar and hit an intra-day high of 72.34 and a low of 72.65 during the day.Paring all its intra-day gains, the rupee closed at 72.62, registering a decline of 17 paise over its previous close of 72.45 a dollar. On a monthly basis, the domestic unit has gained 149 paise or 2.01 per cent over the US dollar in May.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.04 per cent to 90.07.