PTI

Mumbai, Oct 23: The Indian rupee continued its slide and hit a new record low of 49.85 against the US dollar in morning trade today on sustained buying in the greenback amid renewed fears of a global recession.

The Indian currency fell by 55 paise from its overnight close partly because of absence of any intervention by the central bank.

Asian equity markets fell to their four-year low this morning on fears that a global slowdown will adversely impact the corporates' performance.

The dollar also hit a two year high against the basket of currencies in early trade in overseas markets.

In quiet trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the domestic currency resumed lower at 49.68/70 a dollar against its last close of 49.30/31 a dollar and fell further to a new intra-day low of 49.85 a dollar in late morning deals.

Forex dealers said foreign banks were continuously buying dollar amid speculation that rupee may breach 50-level against the dollar shortly.

Fears of increased capital outflows continued to weigh on the rupee sentiment.

Indian benchmark indices this morning tumbled to more than 28-month low of 9,681.28, a fall of over 488 points.