Mumbai, Nov 18 (PTI) The rupee weakened 8 paise to 88.67 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday as equity market faced selling pressure amid global trade related uncertainties.

A weak American currency, lower crude oil prices and some inflow of foreign capital into domestic stocks failed to support the Indian currency, forex analysts said.

They said investors are concerned about increasing import bills and widening trade deficit of the country. Also, traders were keenly watching the progress on the proposed India-US trade deal as well as the domestic PMI data to be released later this week.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 88.67 and slipped to 88.69 level before inching up to 88.68 against the greenback in initial deals, registering a loss of 8 paise from its previous closing level.

On Monday, the rupee settled 7 paise higher at 88.59 against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.05 per cent lower at 99.43.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.47 per cent lower at USD 63.90 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, Sensex declined 151.86 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 84,799.09 in early trade, while the Nifty went down 44.50 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 25,967.30.

Foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 442.17 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

The latest government data released on Monday showed India's exports contracted 11.8 per cent to USD 34.38 billion in October on account of the impact of high tariffs by the US, while the trade deficit widened to a record high of USD 41.68 billion, mainly due to a jump in gold imports.

The country's imports jumped 16.63 per cent to USD 76.06 billion due to high inbound shipments of the yellow metal, silver, cotton raw/waste, fertiliser, and sulphur.

In September, the trade gap widened to USD 31.15 billion, the highest in over a year.

While gold imports rose about 200 per cent to USD 14.72 billion, silver rose 528.71 per cent to USD 2.71 billion during October.

Crude oil imports dipped to USD 14.8 billion in October from USD 18.9 billion in the same month last year. PTI HVA TRB

Rupee weakens to 88.67 amid widening trade deficit, surging gold imports and trade policy uncertainties affecting market sentiment. Rupee weakened to 88.67 against the US dollar amid equity sell offs and global trade uncertainties, with intraday fluctuations around 88.67-88.69. October trade data showed exports down 11.8% to USD 34.38 billion and a record trade deficit of USD 41.68 billion driven by large increases in gold and silver imports and higher shipments of cotton raw/waste, fertiliser and sulphur, while crude import bills fell. These trade dynamics and ongoing trade negotiations dampened investor sentiment despite some foreign inflows.