Rupee settles 16 paise lower at 73.03 against US dollar on Wednesday

The rupee depreciated 16 paise and settled at 73.03 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday tracking muted domestic equities and strengthening American currency.

At the interbank forex market, the rupee opened on a weak note at 73.10, witnessed a volatile trading session and finally closed at 73.03 against the greenback, down 16 paise over its previous close of 72.87.

During the session, the domestic unit touched an intra-day high of 72.90 and a low of 73.13 against the American currency.

On Tuesday, rupee had rallied 73 paise to breach the 73-mark against the US dollar on Tuesday, supported by liquidity-boosting measures announced by the Reserve Bank of India. It had settled at 72.87.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.26 per cent to 92.58.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 157.53 points higher at 39,058.33 and broader NSE Nifty gained 48.75 points to 11,519.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 486.09 crore on Tuesday, according to provisional exchange data.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.88 per cent to USD 45.98 per barrel.