The rupee moved in a range of 74.91-75.05 against the greenback during the four-hour session
The rupee weakened as much as 0.16 per cent (12 paise) to 75.05 against the US dollar but recovered all of its intraday losses to settle flat at 74.93 on Friday. Its brief decline to the 75 mark and recovery came a day after the the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) left the key policy rates unchanged but vowed to do "whatever is necessary" to revive an economy battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The rupee moved in a range of 74.91-75.05 against the greenback during the four-hour session.
Domestic equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty fluctuated in a narrow range on Friday, amid weakness across global markets amid increasing coronavirus infections.
Crude oil prices dipped to around $45 per barrel on Friday on worries that a demand recovery would slow due to a resurgence of coronavirus cases, although a pledge from OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) member Iraq to cut oil output further in August lent support.
Brent crude futures - the global benchmark for crude oil - was last seen trading 0.3 per cent lower at $44.96 per barrel.
The dollar index - which measures the greenback against six currencies - was last seen trading 0.38 per cent higher, having risen as much as 0.41 per cent earlier on Friday.
Most Asian currencies traded lower against the dollar. The Japanese yen, the Chinese yuan, the Singaporean dollar, the Thai baht and the South Korean won traded up to 0.19 per cent lower at the time.
"The risk-off mood due to the US-China trade war and coronavirus concerns have kept the USD-INR spot (pair) above the crucial support of 74.75. Also, it is respecting the immediate resistance of 75.20, only sustained FII (foreign institutional investor) selling from equity segment will push the USD-INR spot higher," said Rahul Gupta, head of research-currency, Emkay Global Financial Services.
On Thursday, the RBI had kept the repo rate steady at 4.0 per cent and the reverse repo rate at 3.35 per cent, missing expectations of most analysts who had expected a rate cut.
At the current level, the rupee has recovered 2.57 per cent against the US currency since an all-time low of 76.91 logged in April, but is still down 5 per cent so far this year.
