MUMBAI: The rupee strengthened by 21 paise to close at 73.45 against the US dollar on Friday as weak American currency and positive domestic equities buoyed investor sentiment.
At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 73.47 against the US dollar, and finally settled for the day at 73.45, registering a rise of 21 paise over its previous close.
During the session, the domestic unit witnessed an intra-day high of 73.15 and a low of 73.55 against the greenback.
On Thursday, rupee depreciated by 14 paise to end at 73.66 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 92.85.
"In coming sessions, the Indo-China border and Brexit uncertainty will occasionally keep the dollar bulls active," Emkay Global Financial Services Head of Research- Currency Rahul Gupta said.
Gupta further said "this week the spot respected both the crucial support of 73 and the resistance of 73.75. Even next week, we expect the sideways trend to continue. Unless the support zone of 72.90-73 doesn't break, the spot will trade higher towards 73.75." On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 76.50 points higher at 39,056.35, and the broader NSE Nifty advanced 53.50 points to 11,569.60.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 249.82 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to exchange data. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.51 per cent to USD 43.52 per barrel.