USD/INR closed at  74.27 against its opening at 74.06. The rupee was marginally lower against the dollar in early trade today because another emergency cut in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve underlined mounting concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. While the global spread of the coronavirus has sent financial markets into a tailspin, central banks and governments worldwide have ramped up efforts to support the economic damage caused by the virus. On Sunday, the US Federal Reserve slashed the federal funds rate target range by 100 basis points to 0.00-0.25% to limit the economic impact of the outbreak and spread of the coronavirus. The Fed also announced a massive $700-bln quantitative easing programme for the same. The committee expects to maintain this target range until it is confident that the economy has weathered recent events and is on track to achieve its maximum employment and price stability goals. Back home, traders may refrain from placing large bets against the Indian currency given that the RBI may cushion sharp depreciation in the rupee by intervening in the spot as well as derivatives market. On Friday, the rupee slumped to its record low of 74.5050 a dollar, but retraced its way above 74.00-a-dollar mark during the day. To ensure sufficient availability of dollars in the markets amid significant foreign fund outflows from emerging markets including India, the RBI will conduct first-of-its-kind foreign exchange swap auction, wherein it will sell $2 bln from market participants at the spot rate, and swap these dollars exactly three years later.