Rupee trades higher at 73.69 per dollar

Indian rupee has extended the early gains and trading higher at 73.69 per dollar, amid buying seen in the domestic equity market.

It opened higher by 15 paise at 73.75 per dollar against Thursday's close of 73.90.

At 11:12 IST, the Sensex was up 397.61 points or 1.09% at 36951.21, and the Nifty was up 116 points or 1.07% at 10921.50.

"Rupee ended lower around 73.90 Thursday on majorly overseas outflows from local stocks also a strong dollar keeps the rupee weak amid concerns of resurgence in coronavirus cases, which may lead to re-imposition of strict containment measures in various nations, dashing hopes of gradual economic recovery. Rupee once starts to trade below 74.00 can weaken towards 74.40 odd zones," said Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst (Commodity & Currency) at LKP Securities.

The U.S. dollar dipped from a two-month peak early on Friday as renewed hopes of U.S. stimulus eased investors’ concerns about economic recovery, while the Chinese yuan gained after the country was added to a global bond benchmark.

Oil prices were little changed on Friday but on track for a weekly fall on concerns that a global resurgence of COVID-19 infections will constrain fuel demand, while the likely return of exports from Libya will add to supply.

Federal Reserve policymakers have called on the US government to provide more fiscal support, fuelling a bout of selling in risky assets, which is expected to support the dollar in the near term, said ICICIdirect.