MUMBAI, May 12 Reuters The Indian rupee fell to a threeweek low on Friday and registered its worst week in eight, dragged down by a broader strength in the dollar index.

The rupee closed at 82.1625 per U.S. dollar compared with 82.09 in the previous session.

Other Asian peers also exhibited weakness through the session, with global stocks seeing weak risk sentiment due to tepid Chinese economic data, haggling over U.S. government finances and uncertainty over interest rates.

We are seeing a lot of variations in the economic data, notably in the U.S. and across the Eurozone … So based on the scenario globally, dollar is looking bit more positive, said Arnob Biswas, head FX research at SMC Global Securities.

He added that the USDINR saw some importer demand this week, leading the surge.

The U.S. dollar edged higher on Friday and was heading for its biggest weekly gain since February, while the dollar index gained nearly 0.8 so far this week.

The U.S. dollar benefited from safehaven flows amid growth concerns and banking worries.

Meanwhile, investors will look for India39;s domestic inflation data due later in the day for cues on the central bank39;s rate strategy.

Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Mumbai; Editing by Sohini Goswami

Source Reuters