The Indian rupee closed 3 paise lower at 72.87 against the US dollar on Thursday amid a strong trend in the Indian equity markets. At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 72.81 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 72.65 and a low of 72.87. It finally ended at 72.87 against the American currency, registering a fall of 3 paise over its previous close.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, inched up 0.02 per cent to 90.38.
On the Indian equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 222.13 points or 0.43 per cent higher at its all-time high of 51,531.52. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty advanced 66.80 points or 0.44 per cent to a record 15,173.30.
Foreign institutional investors remained net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,786.97 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.70 per cent to USD 61.04 per barrel.
''The Indian Rupee ended flat against the US dollar, as possible intervention from RBI offset the impact of foreign flows in local equities,'' said Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities.
The local unit had strengthened earlier in the session amid equity purchases by foreign investors which continued to remain buoyant over the last three months, Iyer said. The next trigger for the market could be the CPI and IIP data due on Friday, traders said.
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