Rupee gains 11 paise to end at 74.92 against US dollar

The rupee gained 11 paise to close at 74.92 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday despite massive sell-offs in the domestic equity market as easing crude oil prices lent some support to the local currency.

At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 74.92 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 74.76 and a low of 74.94 during the day's trade. It finally ended at 74.92 a dollar.

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On Wednesday, the rupee had declined by 7 paise to close at 75.03 against the US currency.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, advanced 0.10 per cent to 93.89.

"The Indian rupee appreciated on expectation of better inflows from high profile IPOs and on lower crude oil prices. Market is having notable dollar inflows from IPOs while RBI is allowing rupee appreciation even after lower crude oil price on Thursday," said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.

The rupee will gain further strength if crude oil prices continue to trade lower over next two weeks along with FPI flows.

"USD/INR is having near-term support around 74.70 while continue to resist at 75.20," Parmar said.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex nosedived 1,158.63 points or 1.89 per cent to end at 59,984.70, while the broader NSE Nifty tumbled 353.70 points or 1.94 per cent to 17,857.25.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 1.28 per cent to USD 83.50 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,913.36 crore, as per exchange data.