The rupee was trading in a narrow range against the US dollar in the morning session on Tuesday amid a weak American currency and a muted trend in domestic equities.
Forex traders said foreign fund outflows also weighed on the local unit.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 81.95 against the dollar. It touched a high of 81.86 in initial deals.
The rupee on Monday settled at 81.92 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading at 101.33, down 0.02 per cent.
Oil prices
Crude price moves fell on expectations of rise in demand in China due to holiday travel with prospects of rising interest rate indicating economic growth. Brent crude was at $82.66 per barrel down by 7 cents and West Texas Intermediate crude went down 6 cents to $78.70 per barrel.
Markets
The markets on Tuesday opened in red with Sensex at 60,042.24, down by 13.85 points and Nifty fell by 11.20 points at 17,732.20. IndusInd Bank, Maruti, Bharti Airtel, Axis Bank and Tata Steel were the top gainers whereas Tata Motors, Nestle, Mahindra and Mahindra, Asian Paint, Titan and ITC were the top losers.
FIIs
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Monday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 412.27 crore, as per exchange data.
"Rupee will remain between the levels of 81.80 to 82.20 as RBI buys dollars at lower levels and inflows continue at higher levels to keep it well boxed in the small range for the moment," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury at Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.
With inputs from PTI
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