Mumbai: The rupee dropped 9 paise to settle at 89.45 against the US dollar on Friday, tracking a strong greenback and a rise in international crude oil prices.

According to forex traders, the Indian currency was also weighed down by subdued equity market sentiment and the withdrawal of foreign funds.

Moreover, market participants remained on the sidelines before the release of the nation’s GDP data. The GDP data was released after market hours.

The Indian economy grew by a higher-than-expected 8.2 per cent — a six-quarter high — as increased factory production in anticipation of a consumption boost from the GST rate cut helped offset deceleration in farm output.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 89.41 and touched the intra-day low of 89.50 against the greenback. It finally settled at 89.45 (provisional) against the US dollar, registering a loss of 9 paise from the previous close.

The rupee depreciated 14 paise to settle at 89.36 against the US dollar on Thursday.

“The slide in the rupee occurred just before the release of the nation’s GDP number,” Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, said, adding that “dollar outflows and high month-end greenback demand have exerted persistent downward pressure on the local currency.”

Parmar further noted that in the near term, market sentiment leans toward the dominance of the US dollar. “The spot USDINR pair faces an upper bound resistance at 89.70 and finds its support at 88.80,” he added.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was 0.06 per cent higher at 99.59.

Analysts attributed the strength in the greenback to increased demand from importers and banks for month-end trade payment settlements.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.33 per cent to USD 63.13 per barrel in futures trade.

Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst at Mirae Asset ShareKhan, said the Indian rupee traded on a negative bias amid a recovery in the US dollar index and mixed-to-weak domestic markets. FII outflows and overnight gains in crude oil prices also pressured the rupee.

“We expect the rupee to trade with a slight positive bias on rising odds of a rate cut by the Fed in December and easing geopolitical tensions,” Choudhary said, adding, “USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of 89.25 to 89.70.”

On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex dipped marginally by 13.71 points to settle at 85,706.67, while Nifty slipped 12.60 points to 26,202.95.

Foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 3,795.72 crore on a net basis on Friday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, the central government’s fiscal deficit touched 52.6 per cent of the full-year target at the end of October, according to official data released on Friday.

The fiscal deficit was 46.5 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE) of 2024-25 in the first seven months of the previous financial year.