Mumbai, March 19  The Indian rupee hit a new record low on Thursday as it opened at 74.95 per dollar against its previous close of 74.26 a greenback.

The recent depreciation in the Indian currency has been on the back of the persistent pressure of the coronavirus fears across global markets along with the freefall in oil prices.

Currently, it is trading around 74.89 per dollar, depreciating by around 0.9 per cent from its previous close.

Stock markets also plunged on Thursday morning as the Sensex fell below the 27,000-mark and Nifty50 breached 8,000 for the first time in over three years.

In a bid to increase liquidity and enhance confidence in the market amid the coronavirus crisis, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday announced it would purchase government securities worth Rs 10,000 crore through open market operations.