The Indian rupee slumped 7 paise to 74.26 against the US dollar in opening trade on Tuesday as a muted trend in domestic equities and firm crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiment.

Representative image.

Mumbai:

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened lower at 74.26 against the dollar, registering a fall of 7 paise over its previous close. 

Advertisement On Monday, the rupee had settled at 74.19 against the US dollar. 

''Asian currencies are trading in a small range, and equities are unable to cross the recent highs as delta plus variant of COVID keeps investors on edge,'' Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury, Finrex Treasury Advisors, said. 

The range for rupee for the day is 74.10 to 74.40, Bhansali added. 

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures was down 0.51 per cent to USD 74.30 per barrel. 

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.07 per cent up at 91.95. 

On the domestic equity market front, BSE Sensex was trading 148.85 points or 0.28 per cent lower at 52,586.74, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 43.25 points or 0.27 per cent to 15,771.45. 

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Monday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,658.72 crore, as per exchange data.