Rupee edges higher at 74.81 against US dollar

The Indian rupee on Friday closed with a marginal 3 paise gain at 74.81 to the US dollar amid weakness in the greenback against key global peers.

At the interbank forex market, the rupee opened at 74.74 and hit an intra-day high of 74.68 and a low of 74.90 against the US dollar.

The domestic unit finally settled for the day at 74.81, gaining 3 paise.

On weekly basis, the rupee logged 2 paise gain over the American unit.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.22 per cent to 92.81.

Traders said the uptick in the domestic currency was supported by weak American dollar, which extended losses following poor US economic data.

The US economy plunged by a record-shattering 32.9 per cent annual rate last quarter.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE benchmark Sensex closed 129.18 points or 0.34 per cent lower at 37,606.89; while the NSE Nifty declined 28.70 points or 0.26 per cent to end at 11,073.45.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 958.64 crore on Friday, according to provisional exchange data.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.72 per cent to USD 43.25 per barrel.

"The Indian Rupee ended with marginal gains on Friday against the dollar, tracking a broad decline in the greenback amid uncertainty over the extent of the US economic recovery," said Sriram Iyer, Senior Analyst, Reliance Securities.

According to Iyer, dovish US Fed, weak US economy and political uncertainty due to US elections is pressuring the Greenback and that has led to traders and investors exiting of long positions on the USD/INR pair.

The Financial Benchmark India Private Ltd (FBIL) set the reference rate for the rupee/dollar at 74.8412 and for rupee/euro at 87.9624. The reference rate for rupee/British pound was fixed at 96.9278 and for rupee/100 Japanese yen at 71.12.