The rupee fell for the sixth straight session and settled 32 paise down at 75.05 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday amid a lacklustre trend in the domestic equities ahead of the release of key macro-economic data. Moreover, rising crude oil prices, foreign fund outflows and spiking COVID-19 cases weighed on the domestic currency.

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At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 74.97 against the greenback and traded in the range of 74.78 to 75.14 during the day. The rupee finally ended at 75.05 against the American currency, registering a fall of 32 paise over its previous close. On Friday, the rupee had settled at 74.73 a dollar.

”Indian rupee spot slipped past the 75-mark to nine-month low of 75.15 on Monday as rising COVID-19 cases sparked fears of a complete lockdown in Maharashtra and a few other states, dampening hopes of a faster recovery and increasing prospects of RBI’s ultra-loose monetary policy for a longer period,” said Kaynat Chainwala – Fundamental Research Analyst Currencies, Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers. Already, the domestic currency has been battered by 2 percent since the RBI unexpectedly announced quantitative easing style G-sec acquisition programme (G-SAP) last week with the first auction aggregating Rs 25,000 crore to be held on April 15, 2021.

This is the sixth straight session of loss for the domestic unit, during which it has seen depreciation of 193 paise. This week, the rupee is likely to weaken further as investors cautiously await India’s industrial output, manufacturing output, trade balance and inflation figures coupled with the first G-SAP auction.

Meanwhile, India hit a new coronavirus infection record with 1,68,912 new cases, the highest single-day rise so far, taking the total tally of cases to 1,35,27,717, according to official data. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.05 percent to 92.12.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.56 percent up at USD 63.30 per barrel. On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 1,707.94 points or 3.44 percent lower at 47,883.38, while the broader NSE Nifty declined by 524.05 points or 3.53 percent to 14,310.80.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital markets, pulling out Rs 653.51 crore on Friday, as per provisional data.