The rupee strengthened by 12 paise and settled at 73.52 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday supported by positive domestic equities and weak American currency. At the interbank forex market, the local unit witnessed high volatility against the US dollar. It opened at 73.70, gained the lost ground and finally closed on a positive note at 73.52 against the US dollar, registering a gain of 12 paise over its previous closing price 73.64.

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During the session, the domestic unit touched an intra-day high of 73.48 and a low of 73.78 against the greenback. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.12 per cent to 92.94.

"The Indo-China border skirmish is keeping the USD-INR spot afloat. Also, RBI is seen protecting the fall in spot. The USD-INR spot has not broken the crucial resistance of 73.75, on subdued dollar ahead of today's (Wednesday) US Fed outcome," said Rahul Gupta, Head of Research - Currency, Emkay Global Financial Services. Gupta further said that "we don't expect any changes in tonight's monetary policy but the main focus will be on details over measures to boost economic growth. If Fed sounds less dovish than expected while providing details over average inflation targeting, then we can expect an uptick in dollar index and further rise in USD-INR spot".

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 243.91 points higher at 39,288.26 and the broader NSE Nifty rose 69.70 points to 11,591.50. Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,170.89 crore on a net basis on Tuesday, according to provisional exchange data.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 2.44 per cent to USD 41.52 per barrel.