USD/INR closed at 73.79 against its opening at 73.94. The rupee fell sharply against the US dollar trade because rapidly rising cases of the coronavirus globally intensified concerns over the fallout on economic growth. The number of confirmed cases of the virus in India so far have jumped to 30 from six on Tuesday. Globally, more than 3,300 have succumbed to the disease, and over 93,000 people have been infected. As on Thursday, China reported 143 new cases and 30 deaths from the virus, in the US the death toll rose to 12, with California declaring a state of emergency. After the US Federal Reserve delivered an emergency 50-basis-point rate cut earlier this week, market participants globally now expect the Fed to cut rates further this month. Along with weak risk appetite globally, dealers also expect outflows from local equities and other asset classes to weigh on the rupee as the investor sentiment soured after the Reserve Bank of India imposed a moratorium on YES Bank till Apr 3. Market participants expect the RBI to lower its repo rate in tandem with the co-ordinated response by global central banks to cope up with the slowing growth. For the past two days, the RBI is said to have been intervening in the spot and forwards markets due to which market players have refrained from placing large bets against the Indian currency.