Mumbai

The rupee appreciated by 31 paise to close at 89.87 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday, snapping a four-day losing streak amid suspected intervention by the Reserve Bank of India and easing global crude oil prices.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.20 against the greenback and moved between an intra-day high of 89.75 and a low of 90.23 before settling at 89.87, up from its previous close of 90.18.

On Tuesday, the domestic unit had gained 12 paise after four consecutive sessions of decline.

Market participants said the rupee’s recovery was supported by central bank action to curb sharp volatility.

“The rupee rose as the RBI sold dollars around the 90.23 levels, signalling that one-sided movement in currencies is not what the central bank wants. It is difficult to take a call on the rupee’s direction at the moment, but 89.50-90.50 can broadly be considered the trading range for January,” Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director at Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, was trading 0.07 per cent higher at 98.65.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, slipped 0.99 per cent to USD 60.10 per barrel in futures trade, offering some relief to the import-dependent Indian economy.

In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 102.20 points to close at 84,961.14, while the NSE Nifty fell 37.95 points to end at 26,140.75.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 107.63 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.