Rupee ends flat at 74.84 per dollar

Indian rupee ended flat at 74.84 per dollar, amid volatile trade witnessing in the domestic equity market.

It opened flat at 74.82 per dollar against Wednesday's close of 74.82 and remained in the range of 74.78-74.92.

At 14:21 IST, the Sensex was down 17.25 points or 0.04% at 38352.38, and the Nifty was up 2.50 points or 0.02% at 11310.90.

"This week has been very indecisive for USD-INR spot. For now, the risk-off mood ahead of US-China trade talks is keeping the spot afloat. Despite the ongoing US-China geopolitical tensions, this week MCX gold has dropped by nearly 10 percent due to delay in US fiscal stimulus. But there is enormous uncertainty and it will get harder as we near the US election phase," said Rahul Gupta, Head of Research- Currency, Emkay Global Financial Services.

"We may see safe haven demand boosting up and gold prices bottoming out around Rs 49000 per 10 gm and back towards Rs 54000-55000 per 10 gm. In USD-INR spot unless 74.60 doesn't break on the downside, we expect USD-INR spot to trade towards 75.20 level in coming sessions," he added.

The dollar nursed losses against most of its peers on Thursday amid fading hopes for a compromise between Republicans and Democrats over additional economic stimulus.

Crude oil prices eased slightly on Thursday but held most of their gains from the previous session after U.S. government data showed a fall in inventories, supporting the view that fuel demand is returning despite the coronavirus pandemic.

"Rupee traded weak on back of dollar index showing better performance compared to others. Uncertainty over US stimulus package saw some short covering in Dollar index. USDINR now has 74.55-74.75 as support and 75.25-75.45 as resistance," said Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst (Commodity & Currency) at LKP Securities.