Mumbai, February 26 The rupee closed at 90.91 against the US dollar on Thursday, amid volatile global crude oil prices and a strong US dollar against major rivals.
A surge in selling of equities by foreign institutional investors and concerns related to trade kept the Indian currency under pressure, even as market participants cautiously waited for the release of domestic GDP data on Friday, forex traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.86 against the dollar and traded within a narrow range of 90.81-90.94 during the session before closing at its previous day's closing level of 90.91 against the dollar.
The rupee remained range-bound and closed at 90.91 against the US dollar on Wednesday, up by 4 paise.
"We expect the rupee to trade with a negative bias amid geopolitical risks between the US and Iran and trade tariff uncertainty. Negotiations between the US and Iran are likely to take place in Geneva, and markets will watch the outcome of the meeting. Traders may also take cues from weekly unemployment claims data from the US," said Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst, Mirae Asset ShareKhan.
The USD-INR spot price is expected to trade within a range of Rs 90.60 to Rs 91.20, he added.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the strength of the US dollar against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.03 per cent lower at 97.73.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose by 0.21 per cent to USD 71.00 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex dipped by 27.46 points to close at 82,248.61, while the Nifty rose by 14.05 points to 25,496.55.
On Thursday, foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 3,465.99 crore, according to exchange data.
