Mumbai, Oct. 10: Amid concerns of a fall in inflow of foreign funds and a rise in trade deficit, the rupee today slumped to a ten-month low against the dollar.

The Indian currency closed at 44.76 per dollar, a huge fall of 38 paise.

While the rupee has been under pressure in recent times, today it was evident right from the beginning of trade when sustained heavy dollar demand in anticipation of foreign fund outflows on one hand and lower supplies of the greenback on the other, drove the currency lower.

The rebound of the dollar in the overseas markets was another catalyst that led the rupee to open distinctly weak at 44.45 per dollar. It failed to recover and was seen consistently heading lower.

The lack of intervention by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) only seemed to make matters worse as sustained dollar demand from companies failed to ebb. After breaching the 44.50 levels, it slumped to 44.76 at the close.

This is the lowest finish for the rupee since the 44.77 per dollar close attained on December 10, 2004. Dealing room circles feel that the rupee is likely to test the 44.82 per dollar levels struck on November 29, 2004, though much will depend on intervention from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The rupee depreciated by 37 paise last week and has been under pressure, as interest by FIIs in the equity markets have been on the wane due to expensive valuations. Over the past few days, these investors, who have so far funnelled record sums into the markets have been net sellers.

These inflows have been a major reason responsible for the rupee putting a strong show for most part of this year.

Such a trend is worrisome considering the fact that the country's trade deficit for the first quarter of this financial year rose sharply to $15.8 billion, against $5 billion a year earlier.