Mumbai, February 27 The rupee declined by 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.
Forex traders said that outflows from foreign institutional investors and a decline in domestic equity markets further put pressure on the local currency.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.91 and traded within a narrow range of 90.91-91.06 before settling at 90.99 (provisional), down 8 paise from its previous close.
The rupee closed at 90.91 against the US dollar on Thursday.
"We expect the rupee to trade with a negative bias due to weak performance in domestic equities and geopolitical risks between the US and Iran. The USD/INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of Rs 90.70 to Rs 91.20," said Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst, Mirae Asset ShareKhan.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the US dollar against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.05 per cent lower at 97.74.
Brent crude, the global benchmark for crude oil, rose by 1.64 per cent to USD 71.91 per barrel in futures trading.
On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex fell by 961.42 points to close at 81,287.19, while the Nifty was down by 317.90 points at 25,178.65.
Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 3,465.99 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
