The Indian rupee settled 70 paise lower at 76.34(provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday amid rise in coronavirus casesin the country and weak domestic equities.
Forex traders said rising brent prices and firm US dollarindex also weighed on the local unit.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened weak at75.83, then lost further ground and finally settled for the day at 76.34,registering a fall of 70 paise over its previous close.
On Tuesday, the rupee had settled at 75.64 against the USdollar.
Domestic bourses were trading on a negative note onWednesday with benchmark indices Sensex was trading 177.93 points lower at 29,889.28and Nifty down by 73 points at 8,719.20.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reduced the timing ofmarket hours for call money market, government securities market and currencymarket from April 7 to April 17 (from 10 am to 2 pm) following the unprecedentedsituation that has emerged due to the spread of coronavirus.
Traders said investor sentiments remain fragile amidconcerns over the impact of coronavirus outbreak on the domestic as well asglobal economy.
There are more than 14.30 lakh declared cases of coronavirusworldwide. In India, the tally of confirmed coronavirus cases has crossed the5,000-mark.