Rupee tumbles 70 paise against US dollar, hits 17-month low

The rupee on Thursday nosedived a whopping 70 paise against the US dollar after World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the deadly Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. The currency hit a low of 74.34 during the session. However, later it trimmed some losses to trade at 74.12.

The number of cases in over 100 countries around the world has risen to more than 124,000, with over 4,500 deaths, including a jump in fatalities in Iran and Italy in particular, according to an AFP tally.

China remains the worst-affected country with more than 80,000 confirmed cases and over 3,000 deaths.

On Wednesday, the domestic unit settled at 73.64 against the greenback amid some respite in the domestic equities and weakening of the American dollar in the overseas market.

"More or less the market will keep trading volatile as Corona virus updates keep the buyers interested in USD/INR pair but falling crude prices give the strength to rupee," said Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst (Commodity & Currency) at LKP Securities.

Foreign investors continued to dump Indian equities amid Coronavirus scare. On Wednesday, overseas investors were net sellers to the tune of Rs 3,515.38 crore while domestic investors (DIIs) were the net buyers to the tune of Rs 2,835.46 crore.

In the equity market, stocks continued to slide and the indices entered the bear market. At 09:44 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading around 1,650 points or 4.6 per cent lower at 34,052 while the NSE's Nifty50 index slipped below the crucial 10,000 level for the first time since October 2017. It was trading at 9,957 points, down 501 points or 4.8 per cent.

Bombay Stock Exchange - BSE