Mumbai: The rupee appreciated 17 paise to 74.71 against the US dollar in opening trade on Friday, tracking the weakness of the American currency in the overseas market.
However, the surge in the rupee was restricted amid elevated crude oil prices and muted domestic equities.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 74.71 against the American dollar, registering a rise of 17 paise from the last close.
In the previous session, the rupee had settled at 74.88 against the greenback.
On the domestic front, investors will look to cues from FX reserves data from the Reserve Bank of India.
Weekly F&O expiry could keep the rupee in a small trading band, traders said.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.25 per cent lower at 95.14.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 92.57 points or 0.16 per cent lower at 58,695.45, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 50.50 points or 0.29 per cent to 17,509.70.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.49 per cent to USD 91.56 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,597.54 crore, as per stock exchange data.