Mumbai: The rupee extended its recovery and settled 21 paise higher at 86.71 against the US dollar on Friday amid easing American currency.
However, higher crude oil prices and incessant selling of domestic equities by foreign institutional investors capped a sharp gain in the local unit, forex traders said.
Also, they said, the aggressive dollar chase was halted after the US government announced the implementation of reciprocal tariffs on April 1, giving its trading partners some relief.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 86.86 and touched the high of 86.79 against the greenback during intraday.
It also touched the low of 86.90 before ending the session at 86.71 against the dollar, logging a gain of 21 paise from its previous close.
On Thursday, the rupee settled almost flat with a marginal gain of 2 paise at 86.93 against the US dollar.
The unit had closed 16 paise lower on Wednesday, a day after surging 66 paise, witnessing the highest single-day rise in nearly
two years.
On Friday, the US dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.39 per cent lower at 106.79. FIIs offloaded equities worth Rs 2,789.91 crore on net basis on Thursday, according to exchange data.