The Indian rupee inched higher by 2 paise to 73.03 against the US dollar in opening trade on Friday, despite a sustained rally in domestic equities. Forex traders said the local unit is trading in a narrow range as strengthening crude oil prices and dollar demand is offsetting the impact of upbeat domestic equities.

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At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 73.05 against the dollar, then surged higher to 73.03, up 3 paise over its previous close. On Thursday, the rupee had settled at 73.06 against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.01 percent at 92.21. Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market on Thursday as they purchased shares worth Rs 348.52 crore, as per exchange data.

On the domestic equity market front, BSE Sensex was trading 251.67 points or 0.44 percent higher at 58,104.21, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 70.65 points or 0.41 percent to 17,304.80.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.01 percent to USD 73.04 per barrel.

On the macroeconomic front, India's exports jumped 45.17 percent to USD 33.14 billion in August on account of healthy growth in segments like engineering, petroleum products, gems and jewellery and chemicals, even as the trade deficit widened to USD 13.87 billion. Imports in August rose 51.47 per cent to USD 47.01 billion, as against USD 31.03 billion in the corresponding month of 2020, according to the commerce ministry's provisional data.