The rupee strengthened against the US currency for the second straight session on Thursday, closing 15 paise higher at 74.46 (provisional) amid a rally in the domestic stocks.

At the interbank forex market, the rupee opened at 74.46 and hit an intra-day high of 74.33 and a low of 74.53. It finally finished at 74.46, higher by 15 paise over its last close.

On Tuesday, the rupee had settled at 74.61 against the US dollar. Forex market was closed on Wednesday on account of "Bakri Id". Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.98 to USD 72.94 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, slipped 0.01 per cent to 92.74. On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 638.70 points or 1.22 per cent higher at 52,837.21, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 191.95 points or 1.23 per cent to 15,824.05.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Tuesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,834.96 crore, as per exchange data.