Rupee gains 4 paise to 74.67 against US dollar in early trade

Mumbai: The rupee appreciated 4 paise to 74.67 against the US dollar in opening trade on Friday, despite a weak trend in domestic equity markets.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened slightly strong at 74.68 against the dollar and gained some further ground to quote 74.67 in the morning session, registering a rise of 4 paise over its previous close.

In the previous session, the rupee had settled at 74.71 against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, surged 0.05 per cent at 92.45.

On the domestic equity market front, BSE Sensex was trading 127.67 points or 0.24 per cent lower at 52,441.27, while the broader NSE Nifty slipped 26.95 points to 15,700.95.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 554.92 crore, as per exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures dropped 0.05 per cent to USD 74.08 per barrel.