The rupee remained under pressure in currency markets on Thursday as it opened at a nine-month low of 75.18 against the US dollar, CNBC-TV18 reported. The currency slipped 12 paise from Monday’s closing mark of 75.06. Tuesday and Wednesday were market holidays.

At 1.30 pm, the domestic currency had pared the depreciation and had, in fact, edged into minor gains, according to Bloomberg data. At the end of the day, the rupee managed to overcome the early losses and ended at 74.92 against the US dollar.

Nonetheless, the massive surge in coronavirus cases in India has turned rupee from being the best-performing currency in the last quarter to the worst-performing one, Bloomberg reported. The rupee’s fall under the 75-mark against the US dollar on Monday was the first such occasion in months. The rupee has slumped 2.6% against the dollar so far in April after falling 0.1% in the quarter that ended in March.

Apart from the pandemic situation, the strengthening of the US currency due to expectations of better growth in the country’s economy has also put pressure on the rupee, according to The Indian Express.

Meanwhile, the equity markets were also facing losses in the afternoon trade, even though it made up for much of the ground lost earlier in the session.

At 1.45 pm, the 30-share BSE Sensex was 130.8 points at 48,413.26. The index had plunged more than 500 points in morning trade to hit the intra-day low of 48,010.55. The broader 50-share NSE Nifty was testing 14,500-levels. Stocks of automobile companies and public sector banks were facing losses, while metal and pharma stocks were gaining the most.

At close, the Sensex was up 259.62 points or 0.53% at 48803.68, and the Nifty was up 76.70 points or 0.53% at 14581.50.

On Thursday, the count of daily cases breached the two lakh-mark for the first time in India, as the tally went up to 1,40,74,564 cases since the outbreak of pandemic in January 2020. The toll jumped by 1,038 to 1,73,123.

Follow today’s coronavirus updates here.