The rupee on Friday rebounded from the near-80 levels to close higher by 17 paise at 79.82 against the US currency following a recovery in the domestic stocks and weakness in the greenback in overseas markets.
The US dollar retreated from the two-decade high levels against a basket of six currencies which supported the rupee sentiment.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 79.95 and witnessed an intra-day high of 79.82 and a low of 79.96 against the US dollar in the day trade.
The local unit finally settled at 79.82 a dollar, up 17 paise over its previous close.
In the previous session, the rupee had settled at a record low of 79.99 against the US dollar.
"The Indian rupee snaps a five-day losing streak and manages to float above 80 as the dollar index, a basket of six currencies, retreated from the two decades high of 109.29 on Thursday and equities rebound.
"However, the rupee logs the 11th weekly loss, after 2008," Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, said.
Markets continue pricing in the chances of the US Fed hiking a whopping 100bps later this month, causing heightened volatility across the board this week, he added.
"Going ahead the factors that matter for rupee direction will be capital flows and the movement of the dollar against major currencies.
"In the short term, spot USD/INR is having psychological resistance of 80 and breaking of the same will pave the way for 80.90 while said view will be negated below 79.05," Parmar said.
"Indian rupee, after trading above Rs 80 mark in NDF market yesterday, recovered mildly on easing Dollar and positive tone in domestic markets. FII inflows also supported the rupee," Anuj Choudhary - Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas, said.
The rupee is expected to trade with a mildly positive bias on positive global markets.
Risk assets recovered after Fed officials Christopher Waller and James Bullard said that they favoured a 75 bps rate hike, trimming speculation of a 100 bps rate hike.
However, any pullback in US dollar may pressurise the rupee.
Traders may take cues from US retail sales and industrial production data, Choudhary noted.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.3 per cent lower at 108.24.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose by 0.67 per cent to $99.76 per barrel.
On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 344.63 points or 0.65 per cent higher at 53,760.78, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 110.55 points or 0.69 per cent to 16,049.20.
Foreign institutional investors turned net buyers in the capital market on Thursday, as they bought shares worth Rs 309 crore, as per exchange data.
