Rupee closes at a 2-month high, below 74 for first time since June 18

The rupee surged 53 paise to close at 73.69 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday, supported by a firm trend in domestic equities ahead of the key speech from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened strong at 74.17 against the greenback, then gained strength and settled for the day at 73.69, higher by 53 paise over its previous close of 74.22.

The local unit moved in a range of 73.69 to 74.20 in the day trade.

"The Indian rupee marked single biggest day gain after April 16, 2021 on back of month-end rebalancing and foreign fund inflows ahead of the Jackson Hole symposium later tonight," said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.

The global forex market remained calm ahead of the event while the domestic market took this as opportunity and has given range breakout, Parmar said adding that "the bias for the rupee has turned bullish after today's price action".

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, dipped 0.04 per cent to 93.02.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 175.62 points or 0.31 per cent higher at 56,124.72, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 68.30 points or 0.41 per cent to 16,705.20.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, increased 1.32 per cent to USD 72.01 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,974.48 crore, as per exchange data.