Rupee settles 3 paise down at 74.90 against US dollar

The rupee edged marginally lower by 3 paise to settle at 74.90 against the US currency on Friday, weighed down by a muted trend in domestic equities and firm crude oil prices.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 74.82 and witnessed an intra-day high of 74.69 and a low of 74.94 against the US dollar in the day trade.

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The local unit finally settled at 74.90 a dollar, down 3 paise over its previous close.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced 0.43 per cent to USD 84.97 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.18 per cent down at 93.60.

On a weekly basis, the rupee has gained 36 paise against the US dollar.

"The Indian rupee traded sideways for another day but manages to buck the trend by gaining on weekly basis as it recovered after four consecutive weekly loss following stronger Asian currencies, in particularly Chinese Yuan, which is near four months high versus dollar," said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.

The rupee expected to trade in range as at one end there could be good dollar inflows from IPOs and QIP while month end dollar demand could be seen from oil marketing companies, Parmar added.

Emkay Global Financial Services said in a note, "The USD/INR spot has been on a bearish note this week tracking the fall in dollar index and higher risk appetite. The consolidation may continue even next week as the focus will be on the US flash PMI data..."

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 101.88 points or 0.17 per cent lower at 60,821.62, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 63.20 points or 0.35 per cent to 18,114.90.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,818.90 crore, as per exchange data.