The rupee erased its initial gains to settle 4 paise higher at 74.24 against the US dollar on Thursday . This was owing to a withdrawal in crude oil prices and a weaker greenback in the overseas market that helped the local unit.
Forex dealers told news agency PTI that the domestic equity market restricted the rupee's gain.
The local currency opened strong at 74.10 against the dollar and rose to an intra-day high of 74.01 against the dollar and fell to an intra-day low of 74.26 during trade today. It eventually closed 74.24 against the dollar. On Wednesday, the rupee closed 9 paise higher at 74.28 against the dollar over its previous close.
The global oil benchmark, Brent crude futures declined 0.24 per cent to $80.09 per barrel.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading lower by 0.08 per cent at 95.75.
BSE Sensex ended 373.32 points or 0.62 per cent lower at 59, 636.01. NSE Nifty declined 133.85 points or 0.75 per cent to 17,764.80.
Axis Bank was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding around 2 per cent. Reliance Industries declined by 1.91 per cent, Kotak Bank by 1.51 per cent, Bharti Airtel by 1.39 per cent and Titan by 1.2 per cent.
Fintech platform Paytm's crashed as much as 26 per cent on its debut at the BSE today. The issue price of the IPO was Rs 2,150 a piece. The stock opened 9.3 per cent lower at Rs 1,950 on the NSE and Rs 1,955 on the BSE.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 344.35 crore, as per exchange data.
(With inputs from PTI)
