The rupee was opened on a flat note and moved higher by 5 paise to 77.99 against the US dollar in opening trade on Wednesday.
The local unit was weighed down by lacklustre domestic markets, elevated crude oil prices and persistent foreign capital outflows, according to traders. The rupee was at 77.99 against the dollar at the interbank foreign exchange, registering a rise of 5 paise over its previous close.
On Tuesday, the rupee had closed at its lifetime low of 78.04 against the US dollar, while the dollar index, which measures the strength of the dollar against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.28 per cent to 105.21.
The Indian rupee opened on Wednesday on a flat note against the dollar ahead of the US Fed meeting outcome, said Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities.
Asian and emerging market peers have started to mix, while equity futures have started with small gains and could cap the downside for the USD INR spot pair, Iyer noted.
The global oil benchmark of Brent crude futures rose 0.19 per cent to USD 121.40 per barrel. On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex was trading 47.1 points or 0.09 per cent lower at 52,646. The broader NSE Nifty declined 13.95 points or 0.09 per cent to 15,718, while the NSE Nifty declined by 13.95 points or 0.09 per cent. Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth 4,502 and were net sellers in the capital market on Tuesday. The data shows 25 crore.