In contrast to falling equities, the rupee on Tuesday recovered 23 paise to end at 59.78 against the dollar after exporters and some banks sold the US currency.
On Monday, the rupee fell by 29 paise — logging its biggest drop in nearly three weeks.
The Indian rupee on Tuesday commenced higher at 59.93 a dollar from previous close of 60.01 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market.
It moved in a range of 59.68 and 60.00 before concluding at 59.78, exhibiting a rise of 23 paise or 0.38 per cent.
On Monday, it had dipped by 0.49 per cent.
“Selling of dollar by the exporters may have been the reason for the appreciation...,” said Kiran Kumar Kavikondala, Director & CEO, WealthRays Securities.
Expectations of more foreign fund inflow also helped after the Railway Budget for 2014-15 proposed to attract FDI in infrastructure projects.
However, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex on Tuesday plunged by a whopping 517.97 points, or 1.98 per cent.
FIIs infused USD 130.70 million on Monday, as per provisional data with stock exchanges.
The dollar index was up 0.05 per cent against its major six global rivals.