MUMBAI: The rupee gained 5 paise to settle at 90.69 (provisional) against the US dollar on Tuesday, backed by positive domestic equity markets and lower crude prices overseas.
Sustained outflow of foreign funds and a firm American currency, however, weighed on the Indian currency and capped its gains, forex traders said.
In the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.72 against the US dollar and moved in a tight range, touching a high of 90.64 and a low of 90.78 in intraday deals.
The unit finally ended the session at 90.69 (provisional) against the greenback, registering a gain of 5 paise from its previous closing level.
On Monday, the rupee settled 8 paise lower at 90.74 against the US dollar.
Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst,Mirae Asset ShareKhan, said that the rupee traded with a slight negative bias on FII outflows and a positive dollar. However, a positive tone in the domestic markets and softening of crude oil prices cushioned the downside.
"Investors may now watch out for housing market and GDP data from the US this week. USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of Rs 90.50 to Rs 91," Choudhary said.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.22 per cent higher at 97.03.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.83 per cent lower at USD 68.08 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex rose 173.81 points or 0.21 per cent to settle at 83,450.96, while the Nifty went up 42.65 points or 0.17 per cent to 25,725.40.
On Monday, foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 972.13 crore, according to exchange data.
Government data released on Monday showed the country's exports rose marginally by 0.61 per cent to USD 36.56 billion in January, while trade deficit widened to a three-month high of USD 34.68 billion.
Imports rose 19.2 per cent - the highest so far this fiscal - to a three-month high of USD 71.24 billion in January, driven by a sharp rise in inbound shipments of gold and silver due to higher prices, the data showed.