The Indian rupee fell 11 paise to 74.49  against the US dollar on Thursday, tracking the strength of the American currency in the international market following hawkish US Federal Reserve minutes.

Investors saw minutes from the Federal Reserve meeting as a warning that the US central bank may raise interest rates sooner than expected to curb inflation, which might lead to outflows from domestic markets, according to Forex analysts.

The local currency opened down at 74.44 against the US dollar on the interbank foreign exchange market, with an intraday high of 74.32 and a low of 74.51. It finally ended the day at 74.49, down 11 paise from its previous closing of 74.38. The dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of six currencies, was up 0.05 percent at 96.22. Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark, Brent crude futures, rose 0.39 percent to USD79.29 a barrel.

The BSE Sensex fell 621.31 points to 59,601.84, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 179.55 points to 17,745.90 in the domestic equity market.

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