NEW DELHI: The

's free fall refused to stop on Thursday, as the

hit a new low of 70.82 against the US

in morning trade.

The currency had opened marginally lower at 70.63 per dollar against previous close 70.59.

The weakening of the currency in the last couple of days has been attributed to month-end dollar demand from importers.

The Street suggested rupee is also facing pressure due to global cues. "Globally, the Turkish lira and Chinese off shore yuan is putting currencies under pressure.The other negative is rally in crude oil which indirectly hurts sentiment and fiscal stability,"executive VP-Markets & Corporate Affairs, India Infoline told TOI.

Bhasin however said that the psychological mark of 71 will be breached as foreign buying in stocks is likely to see inflows.

On Wednesday, economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said he expected the rupee to stabilise in the 68-70 band as foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) had once again turned net investors in the Indian market.

The rupee has lost close to 10 per cent so far in 2018, making it the worst performing Asian currency. A weak rupee has resulted in imports, overseas education and foreign travel getting more expensive.

The biggest impact is on petrol and diesel prices as India imports nearly 80% of its crude oil requirement. Global crude prices have also risen, making it a double whammy for consumers as well as the government, which is under pressure to pare taxes. During the last fortnight, pump prices of petrol and diesel have gone up by Re 1 each in Delhi.

The equity markets on Thursday opened flat with Sensex and Nifty testing psychological marks of 38,700 and 11,700, respectively.