Rupee slips 8 paise against dollar to 74.99 on Omicron worries

The rupee on Thursday slipped 8 paise to close at 74.99 (provisional) against the US dollar as investor concerns grew over the impact of the new coronavirus variant on the economy.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 75.06 and witnessed an intra-day high of 74.90 and a low of 75.07 against the US dollar.

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The local unit finally settled at 74.99, down 8 paise over its previous close of 74.91.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.01 per cent up at 96.03.

Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced 2.99 per cent to USD 70.45 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 776.50 points or 1.35 per cent higher at 58,461.29, while the broader NSE Nifty jumped 234.75 points or 1.37 per cent to 17,401.65.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,765.84 crore, as per exchange data.

On the macro-economic front, India's merchandise exports rose 26.49 per cent year-on-year to USD 29.88 billion in November on better performance by key sectors, while the trade deficit hit a record high of USD 23.27 billion as imports of crude oil and gold spiked.