Rupee Continues To Trade Above 74 Against The Dollar

On Tuesday, the Indian rupee opened higher by 14 paise at 74.13 against the dollar when compared to its previous day's close of 74.27.

However, it continues to stay above the 74-level as concerns of economic fallout from the coronavirus spread outweighed the assurance of support received from central banks around the world, including the Reserve Bank of India.

In the previous session, the domestic currency had fallen to a record low of 74.5075.

On Monday, at the press briefing, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das, when asked about the rate cuts before the monetary policy meet on 3 April, said that the decision will be taken by the MPC (monetary policy committee) as the situation evolves "but I am not ruling out anything."

RBI announced the second round of $2 billion dollar-rupee swaps on 23 March and up to Rs 1 lakh crore of long-term repo operations as and when the market needs it. The dollar-rupee swap is one of RBI's numerous liquidity management tools.

Das also said that the central bank has several other policy instruments and tools that it can deploy, as and when needed, considering the sharp decline in financial markets.

Oil prices recover over $1 per barrel on Tuesday from its recent sharp falls amid concerns over fall in demand from the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Sensex and Nifty 50 opened with gains but soon slipped by as much as 1.3 percent and 1.17 percent, respectively.