Rupee Plunges to Record Low of 74.50 Amid Coronavirus Fears

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The Indian rupee tumbled to 74.50 against the US dollar to hit an all-time low on Friday, 13 March, amid the coronavirus outbreak which further sent the stocks into a bear market.

The rupee declined 0.4 percent to 74.50 per dollar, an all-time low, BloombergQuint reported.

The domestic currency opened 19 paise lower at 74.41 per dollar against previous close of 74.22.

It further tumbled to cross 11 October 2018 level of 74.48.

Talking to BloombergQuint, First Rand Bank’s K Harihar, said the rupee is under pressure and there won’t be any immediate respite.

“Surely the rupee is under pressure and I don't think there's going to be any immediate respite from that. I think the biggest pressure for the rupee is coming in from the fact that the FPIs have been selling in a very big way this month, more than 30,000 cr across debt and equity... That is a short-term pressure that is coming on the rupee,” Harihar said.

Sensex tanked 2,548.94 points to 30,229.20 in the opening session on Friday while Nifty was down 729.95 points to 8,860.20

Meanwhile, trading was also halted on the NSE after Nifty slumped 10 percent in early trade.

The Indian equities had entered a bear market on Thursday as foreigners pulled $2.7 billion from the country’s equities this month.

In a statement on Thursday, the Reserve Bank of India said that it is closely monitoring the global situation and is ready to take all necessary measures to ensure the normal functioning of financial markets.

(With inputs from BloombergQuint.)