The Indian rupee declined 5 paise to 74.24 against the US dollar in opening trade on Wednesday, tracking the firm American currency. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 74.20 against the dollar, then fell further to 74.24, registering a fall of 5 paise over its previous close.

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On Tuesday, the rupee had settled at 74.19 against the US dollar. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading up 0.13 percent at 93.01.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.55 percent to USD 70.66 per barrel. On the domestic equity market front, BSE Sensex was trading 128.18 points or 0.23 percent higher at 56,087.16, while the broader NSE Nifty surged 50.65 points or 0.3 percent to 16,675.25.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Tuesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,644.91 crore, as per exchange data. "RBI and oil companies being the only buyers, RBI has been protecting 74.10 for the moment. As assets are monetised and we approach complete sale of BPCL and IPO of LIC flows will increase only. So any good uptick needs to be sold," said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury, Finrex Treasury Advisors.