Rupee falls 8 paise to settle at 90.99 against US dollar

Mumbai: The rupee declined 8 paise to settle at 90.99 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday weighed down by a sharp rise in global crude oil prices amid geopolitical uncertainties.

FII outflows and a fall in the domestic equity markets further pressured the local unit, according to forex traders.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.91 and moved in a narrow range of 90.91-91.06 before settling at 90.99 (provisional), down 8 paise from its previous close.

The rupee settled on a flat note at 90.91 against the US dollar on Thursday.

"We expect the rupee to trade with a negative bias on weak tone in the domestic equities and geopolitical risks between the US and Iran. USDINR spot price is expected to trade in a range of Rs 90.70 to Rs 91.20," Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst, Mirae Asset ShareKhan, said.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.05 per cent lower at 97.74.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was up 1.64 per cent to USD 71.91 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex tumbled 961.42 points to settle at 81,287.19, while the Nifty was down 317.90 points to 25,178.65.

On Thursday, foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 3,465.99 crore, according to exchange data.