The Indian rupee depreciated 27 paise to close at 74.37 against the US dollar on Tuesday in its second straight day of losses following a stronger dollar overseas.
At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened weak at 74.18 against the American currency, lost further ground and finally closed at 74.37, showing a fall of 27 paise over its previous close.
On Monday, the rupee had settled at 74.10.
The local unit witnessed an intra-day high of 74.05 and a low of 74.40 against the greenback during the trading session.
The domestic currency has lost 51 paise in the two trading sessions to Tuesday.
"Indian rupee traded lower following stronger dollar and higher crude oil prices. The dollar index regains some composure and edges higher to the 92 area ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Powell’s testimony later tonight. Elsewhere, Brent crude oil has been trading near psychological level of USD 75 barrel," said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.
Parmar further noted that spot USD-INR is expected to trade with positive bias as it surpassed the resistance of 74.30 and now open for 74.80 level while continuing to find support around 73.70.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.22 per cent to 92.09.
On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 14.25 points or 0.03 per cent higher at 52,588.71, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 26.25 points or 0.17 per cent to 15,772.75.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.72 per cent to USD 74.36 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Monday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,244.71 crore, as per exchange data.
