Rupee rises 18 paise to 82.58 against U.S. dollar

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 1.26 per cent to $75.64 per barrel.

The rupee reversed its four-day losing streak and rose 18 paise to 82.58 (provisional) against the U.S. dollar on Friday, tracking positive sentiments in the domestic equity markets.

Traders said a weak dollar overseas also supported the rupee.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened strong at 82.50 against the dollar and traded between 82.50 and 82.75. It finally settled at 82.58 (provisional) against the American currency, registering a gain of 18 paise against its previous close.

On Thursday, the rupee settled at 82.76 against the U.S. dollar.

Jateen Trivedi, V-P Research Analyst at LKP Securities, said the movement in the rupee's favour was triggered as the participants offloaded the dollar following "positive sentiments as Eleven U.S. banks, JP Morgan and others will deposit up to $30 billion into First Republic Bank coming to rescue the lender caught up in a crisis triggered by the collapse of two U.S. lenders".

He, however, said the "rupee can continue the volatile moves as prices shall factor in the Fed's policy and Fed's viewpoint into the financial sector impacted by interest rate high cycle".

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.21 per cent lower at 104.20.