Mumbai: The rupee pared some of its initial gains and settled 3 paise higher at 74.99 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday tracking weakness in the greenback and gains in the domestic equity market.
Forex traders said positive domestic equities and weak US currency supported the local unit, while foreign fund outflows and concerns over rising COVID-19 cases weighed on investor sentiment.
The rupee opened at 74.94 against the US dollar, but lost ground and settled for the day at 74.99 against the US dollar, up 3 paise over its previous close.
It had settled at 75.02 against the greenback on Wednesday.
In a volatile trading session, the rupee touched an intra-day high of 74.91 and a low of 75.07 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.02 per cent to 96.40.
The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 344.90 points higher at 36,673.91 and broader NSE Nifty rose 87.95 points to 10,793.70.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market as they sold shares worth Rs 994.87 crore on Wednesday, according to provisional exchange data.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.23 per cent to USD 43.19 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the number of cases around the world linked to COVID-19 has crossed 1.20 crore and the death toll has topped 5.49 lakh.
In India, the death toll due to the disease rose to 21,129 and the number of infections spiked to 7,67,296, according to the health ministry.