Mumbai: The Indian rupee was trading in a narrow range in morning trade on Friday as muted domestic equities and sustained foreign fund outflows negated the impact of easing crude oil prices.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 74.50 against the American dollar, then inched higher to 74.48. The local unit also touched an early low of 74.53 against US dollar in the opening session.
On Thursday, the rupee had slipped 7 paise to close at 74.51 against the US dollar.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.04 per cent lower at 95.69.
Easing crude oil prices will cap weakness, however, weak Asian and emerging market peers will cap strength of the domestic unit, Reliance Securities said in a research note.
The weekly futures and options will expire today, so the markets could remain choppy ahead of the expiry, it added.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 516.36 points or 0.87 per cent lower at 58,948.26, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 151.45 points or 0.85 per cent to 17,605.55.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 1.84 per cent to USD 86.75 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 4,679.84 crore, as per stock exchange data.