The Indian rupee declined 20 paise to 74.44 against the US dollar in opening trade on Friday, tracking a lacklustre trend in domestic equities. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 74.38 against the dollar, then fell further to 74.44, registering a fall of 20 paise over its previous close.

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On Wednesday, the rupee had settled at 74.24 against the US dollar. The forex market was closed on Thursday on account of 'Muharram'.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading down 0.04 percent at 93.52. Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.53 percent to USD 66.80 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, BSE Sensex was trading 303.53 points or 0.55 percent lower at 55,325.96, while the broader NSE Nifty slumped 115.00 points or 0.69 percent to 16,453.85.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 595.32 crore, as per exchange data.