The Indian rupee plummeted 20 paise to provisionally close at 74.99 against Greenback on Friday, as rising crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiment, even as the domestic equities ended with attractive gains.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee which opened at 75 witnessed an intra-day high of 74.91 and a low of 75.16 against the U.S. dollar in day trade and finally settled at 74.99 a dollar, down 20 paise over its previous close. Yesterday, the rupee had settled at 74.79 against the U.S. dollar.

Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced 0.76  percent to  USD 82.57 per barrel. The dollar index, which gauges the Dollar’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.06  percent lower at 94.15. Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,764.25 crore, as per exchange data

On the macroeconomic front, RBI on Friday decided to keep the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4  percent but maintained an accommodative stance even as the economy is showing signs of recovery after the second COVID wave.  The RBI Governor said MPC voted unanimously for keeping the interest rate unchanged and determined to continue with its accommodative stance as long as necessary to support growth and keep inflation within the target.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 381.23 points or 0.64  percent higher at 60,059.06, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 104.85 points or 0.59  percent to 17,895.20.

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