The Indian rupee on Wednesday slumped to a four-month low after declining by over 100 paise in afternoon trade against the US dollar. At 3.44 pm, the domestic currency was trading at 74.55 against the greenback, down nearly 113 paise, according to Bloomberg data.

On Tuesday, the currency had erased its initial gains and slipped 12 paise against the US dollar, to settle at 73.42 amid concerns over surge in coronavirus cases. In Wednesday’s trading session, the currency opened trading at 73.55, down a further 13 paise and suffered heavy losses in the afternoon.

The trend meant that the currency slipped to its lowest level at least since November 20 last year, according to the Economic Times.

Meanwhile, the stock markets closed on an encouraging note as the 30-share BSE Sensex gained 460.37 points to close at 49,661.76. The broader 50-share NSE Nifty also gained nearly 1% to close at 14,819.05. All sectoral sub-indices finished with gains, as bank and Information Technology stocks gained the most.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of India kept the repo rate, or its key lending rate, unchanged at 4% and said that it will maintain the “accommodative” stance on policy. The central bank also kept its growth projection for the next financial year unchanged at 10.5%, despite flagging a risk to global demand due to the second wave of coronavirus cases.