Mumbai, Jul 1 (PTI) The rupee opened on a flat note and fell 5 paise to 75.56 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday as concerns over rising COVID-19 cases weighed on investor sentiment even as the domestic equity market was trading in the positive territory.

At the interbank forex market the rupee was trading in a narrow range.

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It opened at 75.49 against the US dollar, touched a high of 75.48, but soon lost ground and fell to 75.56 against the US dollar, down 5 paise over its last close.

It had settled at 75.51 against the US dollar on Tuesday.

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Forex traders said firm domestic equities and steady crude oil prices supported the local unit, while, foreign fund outflows and rising COVID-19 cases weighed on investor sentiments.

The number of cases around the world linked to the disease has crossed 1.04 crore and the death toll has topped 5.10 lakh.

In India, the death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 17,400 and the number of infections rose to 5,85,493, according to the health ministry.

On the equities front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was quoting 179.12 points higher at 35,094.92 and the broader Nifty rose 36.30 points to 10,338.30.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market, as they sold equity shares worth Rs 2,000.08 crore on Tuesday, according to provisional exchange data.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 1.34 per cent to USD 41.15 per barrel.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose by 0.02 per cent to 97.40.

(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)