The rupee rose by as much as 24 paise to touch 77.49 against the US dollar on Friday, as crude oil prices retreated from recent highs, after beginning the day at 77.51. However, strength in the American currency overseas kept the upside in check.

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Crude oil prices eased amid concerns about reducing economic growth and tighter central bank monetary policy that could curb a recovery in fuel demand.

Benchmark Brent futures were down 0.4 percent at $111.6 a barrel at the last count. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were down 0.6 percent at $109.3 a barrel.

“Since the RBI policy on May 4, the rupee has flipped from being an outperformer to an underperformer... The central bank remains an aggressive seller of the dollar in the spot and forward markets. The sharp plunge in the forward premium is an evidence of that," said Anindya Banerjee, VP-Currency Derivatives and Interest Rate Derivatives at Kotak Securities.

"Thanks to the RBI’s aggressive intervention, the USD-INR (pair) has not seen any blowout move," he said.

Banerjee expects the rupee to move within a range of 77-78.30 over the near term.

The dollar index — which measures the greenback against six peers — rose as much as 0.4 percent on Friday.

The index is expected to hold on to support at 102.6, according to Rahul Kalantri, VP-Commodities at Mehta Equities.

On Thursday, the rupee had settled at 77.73 against the dollar.

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