Mumbai: The rupee declined by 19 paise to close at a 14-week low of 74.74 against the US currency on Friday as a firm dollar and expectations of further spike in crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiment. While the rupee depreciated for the fourth straight day on Friday, on weekly basis the rupee recorded losses for the
fifth week on the trot as strong dollar bias and firm crude oil prices have weighed on the local unit. The rupee has declined by more than 3 pc or 229 paise in the past five weeks while the unit dropped by 54 paise or 0.73 pc this week.
"Rupee witnessed a weak trend as OPEC+ delayed production info, which indicates at no increase in production which can make crude expensive going ahead. The range for rupee can be 74.60 - 75.10 in coming sessions ahead," said Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst at LKP Securities.