Summary:
Mumbai, Jan 20 (PTI) The Indian rupee weakened by 7 paise to close at 74.51 against the US dollar on Thursday as sustained foreign fund outflows and rising crude oil prices hurt forex market sentiment.
Further, massive sell-offs in domestic equities for a third session in a row on Thursday too made investors more cautious, analysts said.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 74.43 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 74.29 and a low of 74.53 during the session.
The rupee finally settled at 74.51, down 7 paise over its previous close of 74.44.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback"s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.02 per cent up at 95.53.
Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.44 per cent to USD 88.11 per barrel.