NEW DELHI: Indian rupee hit its record low level of 68.855 against the US dollar during the intraday trade on Thursday after extending its loses for a fifth consecutive session.Sentiment in forex market turned highly weak due to consistent selling by foreign investors against the backdrop of demonetisation and renewed concerns over Fed interest rate hike.The currency opened nearly 22 paise down at 68.78 against dollar on account of buying of American currency by banks and importers. At 1.10 pm, the local currency was trading 26 paise down at 68.83.Anindya Banerjee, associate vice president currency derivatives, Kotak Securities said, “FPI flows have turned negative since the US election. Rising US bond yields and strong dollar overseas is a major headwind for an EM currency like rupee. At the same time, falling interest rate differential post demonetisation and concerns over growth, is adding to the pressure on the local currency. A range of 68-69 is seen on spot.”Since demonetisation, rupee has already plunged over 2.5 per cent till date. The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday fixed the reference rate of the rupee at 68.47 against the US dollar and 72.7844 for the euro.Meanwhile, domestic equity market was also trading in red in afternoon trade tracking mixed global cues. The BSE Senex was trading 137.89 points, or 0.53 per cent down at 25,913.92, while NSE Nifty was down 45.55 points, or 0.57 per cent, down at 7987.75.Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have withdrawn over Rs 3,700 crore from equity markets this week.Abhishek Goenka, founder & chief executive officer, India Forex Advisors said, "We expect that the weakness in the rupee could continue for the next three months and could test levels of 70.50 in the near term."