The rupee closed 4 paise higher at 73.48 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday, tracking the broad weakness of the American currency in the overseas market.
At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened flat at 73.49 against the greenback. During the session, the domestic unit witnessed an intra-day high of 73.42 and a low of 73.55.
In the previous session, the rupee had settled at 73.52 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.12 per cent to 92.82.
Anindya Banerjee, DVP, Currency Derivatives & Interest Rate Derivatives at Kotak Securities Ltd., said, "The rupee witnessed another lackluster trading session with spot closing just 3 paise lower at 73.48 against the dollar. FPI flows and speculative selling was absorbed by alleged intervention from RBI. The rupee may continue to trade within a range of 73 and 74 with a downward bias against the greenback."
"Indian rupee recovered after Thursday's weakness on back of FTSE rebalancing related inflows and weakness in dollar against Asian currencies. Rupee manages to find some ground this week after two weeks high voltage price action," said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities to PTI.
Spot USD/INR is expected to consolidate in the range of 73.25 to 73.65 ahead of next week's US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, Parmar added.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.62 per cent to $75.20 per barrel.
On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 125.27 points or 0.21 per cent lower at 59,015.89, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 44.35 points or 0.25 per cent to finish at 17,585.15.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market on Thursday as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,621.88 crore, as per exchange data.
