The rupee depreciated 3 paise to close at 74.18 (provisional) against the US dollar on Tuesday, as higher crude oil prices and stronger dollar against key global currencies weighed on sentiment.
The rise in crude oil prices had a negative impact on the domestic unit, but robust domestic equities supported the rupee and restricted the fall, experts said.
At the interbank foreign exchange (forex), the domestic currency opened higher at 74.04 a dollar, but could not hold the momentum and finally settled 3 paise lower at 74.18against the greenback.
During the session, the domestic unit reached a high of 74.02 and touched 74.30 at the lower end.
On Monday, the rupee had lost 7 paise to close at 74.15 against the US dollar.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, strengthened 0.17 per cent to 92.87.
Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 1.34 per cent to USD 42.97 per barrel.
In the equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended 680.22 points or 1.60 per cent higher at 43,277.65. It touched its lifetime peak of 43,316.44 during the day.
Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty too hit a fresh intra-day high of 12,643.90. It ended at 12,631.10, up 170.05 points or 1.36 per cent.
"Rupee traded weak after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervened in spot and then paid in forward to neutralise liquidity a kind of swap seen when market needs to balanced.
"The range on rupee remains near 74.00-74.75. Crude prices also inching higher crossing USD 42 and USD 40 in Brent and WTI, respectively, can keep rupee little bit weak going ahead," Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst (Commodity and Currency) at LKP Securities, said.
Foreign institutional investors remained net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 4,548.39 crore on Monday, according to provisional exchange data.
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