Mumbai, Jan 7 (PTI) The rupee appreciated by 11 paise to 74.31 against the US dollar in opening trade on Friday, tracking gains in domestic equity markets.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened up at 74.41 against the American dollar, then inched higher to 74.31, registering a rise of 11 paise from the last close.

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In the previous session, the rupee settled at 74.42 against the US dollar.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.11 per cent lower at 96.21.

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Forex traders said growing concerns over the Omicron variant of coronavirus and its impact on economic recovery as well as firm crude oil prices weighed on the local unit and contained the appreciating bias.

Meanwhile, on the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 475.91 points or 0.80 per cent higher at 60,077.75, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 139.80 points or 0.79 per cent to 17,885.70.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.65 per cent to USD 82.52 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,926.77 crore, as per exchange data.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)