Indian rupee, the local currency opened on a flat note at 74.96 per US dollar on Monday's opening bell, tracking weakness in Asian peers even as domestic equities started on a positive note.
The rupee opened weak at 74.96 at the interbank forex market, down 3 paise over its previous close of 74.93. The domestic unit, however, soon pared the losses and was trading 2 paise higher at 74.91 against the greenback.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.11 per cent to 93.32.
Forex traders said, while firm start of the equity market, weak dollar and foreign fund inflows supported the rupee, factors like weak Asian currencies and rising COVID-19 cases dragged down the local unit.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 315.34 points higher at 38,355.91 and broader NSE Nifty rose 98.90 points to 11,312.95.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 397.32 crore on Friday, according to provisional exchange data.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.97 per cent to USD 44.83 per barrel.
Worldwide, there are 200 lakh confirmed cases and 7.33 lakh deaths from the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak. In India, the nnumber of infected cases has risen to 22 lakh, including 0.44 lakh fatalities.
(Edited with PTI Inputs)
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