USD/INR closed at 71.17 against its opening at 70.99. USD/INR ended higher Friday on likely overseas fund outflows from local stocks.Spot pair surged sharply on outflows over of nearly $1 billion from Morgan Stanley Capital index.
Local stocks slumped half a percent Friday dragged by broad based selling in index heavyweights. Nifty slumped 0.64% to 10,780.55 on the National Stock Exchange. The index opened at 10,859.75 as against the previous close of 10,849.80.
Adding to that, the greenback remained subdued against major peers on concerns over slowdown in global growth.
The dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, traded at 96.33 during evening trades on Friday compared to 96.42 at previous close.
Crude oil prices surged on reports the US may impose sanctions on Venezuela's crude exports.Brent crude oil futures for March delivery traded 1.28% up at $61.87 a barrel on Friday.
On the US economic front, initial jobless claims data released by US Department of labour reported that slipped by 199,000 in December compared to 220,000 expected by economist.
Continuous jobless claims data released by US departmentof labour reported that slipped by 1.713 million in December compared to 1.735 million expected by economist.
Sensex provisionally ends 151 points lower with 22 components in the red.