The rupee erased most of its initial gains to settle 4 paise higher at 74.24 (provisional) against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, as some pullback in crude oil prices and a weak greenback in the overseas market supported the local unit.
However, a massive sell-off in the domestic equity market restricted the rupee’s gain, forex dealers said.
At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened strong at 74.10 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 74.01 and a low of 74.26 during the day's trade.
It finally ended at 74.24 a dollar against the previous close of 74.28.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.24% to $80.09 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading lower by 0.08% at 95.75.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth ₹344.35 crore, as per exchange data.