Mumbai, Sep 3 (PTI) The Indian rupee inched higher by 2 paise to 73.03 against the US dollar in opening trade on Friday, despite a sustained rally in domestic equities.

Forex traders said the local unit is trading in a narrow range as strengthening crude oil prices and dollar demand is offsetting the impact of upbeat domestic equities.

Also Read | Telangana Triple Murder Case: Six Held for Killing Three of A Family in Warangal.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 73.05 against the dollar, then surged higher to 73.03, up 3 paise over its previous close.

On Thursday, the rupee had settled at 73.06 against the US dollar.

Also Read | India Logs 45,352 New COVID-19 Cases, 366 Deaths in Past 24 Hours; Recovery Rate at 97.45%.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.01 per cent at 92.21.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market on Thursday as they purchased shares worth Rs 348.52 crore, as per exchange data.

On the domestic equity market front, BSE Sensex was trading 251.67 points or 0.44 per cent higher at 58,104.21, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 70.65 points or 0.41 per cent to 17,304.80.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.01 per cent to USD 73.04 per barrel.

On the macroeconomic front, India's exports jumped 45.17 per cent to USD 33.14 billion in August on account of healthy growth in segments like engineering, petroleum products, gems and jewellery and chemicals, even as the trade deficit widened to USD 13.87 billion.

Imports in August rose 51.47 per cent to USD 47.01 billion, as against USD 31.03 billion in the corresponding month of 2020, according to the commerce ministry's provisional 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)