The Indian rupee surged 53 paise to close at 73.69 against the greenback on Friday, supported by a firm trend in domestic equities ahead of the key speech from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened strong at 74.17 against the Dollar, then gained strength and settled for the day at 73.69, higher by 53 paise over its previous close of 74.22. The local unit moved in a range of 73.69 to 74.20 in the day trade.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, dipped 0.04  percent to 93.02.

On the Indian equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 175.62 points higher at 56,124.72, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 68.30 points to 16,705.20.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, increased 1.32  percent to USD 72.01 per barrel. Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,974.48 crore, as per exchange data.

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