The rupee gained 43 paise to close at 74.03 (provisional) against the U.S. dollar on Monday as positive domestic equities and a dovish outlook of U.S. Federal Reserve supported the local unit.
At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 74.25 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 73.98 and a low of 74.25 during the day's trade. It finally ended at 74.03 a dollar.
On Thursday, the rupee had settled at 74.46 against the U.S. dollar. The forex market was closed on Friday for 'Diwali Balipratipada'.
"Rupee traded strong as the FED statement of not being so keen to increase rates early has put pressure on the dollar index and helped rupee scale higher from lows of 74.60 to 74.00. Going ahead, the range for rupee can be seen between 74.20-73.75," said Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst at LKP Securities.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.04% to 94.28.
On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex advanced 477.99 points or 0.80% to end at 60,545.61, while the broader NSE Nifty jumped 151.75 points or 0.85% to 18,068.55.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 1% to $83.57 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth ₹328.11 crore, as per exchange data.
