The rupee rose 51 paise against the dollar on Friday to close at 72.49. The rise was the result of decline in crude oil prices, Mint reported.

Brent Crude – an international classification of light crude oil that serves as a benchmark price for global oil purchases – slipped below the $70 per barrel mark on Friday ahead of a meeting of major oil producing countries in Abu Dhabi, PTI reported.

The rupee had risen to 72.45 against the dollar intraday but declined slightly to 72.49, with the dollar recovering due to the US Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged. The Indian currency had opened at 72.68 against the dollar.

Meanwhile, Indian stock markets declined on Friday. The BSE Sensex fell 79.13 points to close at 35,158.55. The NSE Nifty 50 declined 13.20 points to end the week at 10,585.20. The markets declined as top information technology and energy companies sold their stocks.

The biggest gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank, Asian Paints, Adani Ports, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Hero Motocorp. The biggest losers were Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries and State Bank of India.

On the Nifty, the stocks that rose the most were Yes Bank, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Asian Paints and Adani Ports. The stocks which performed the poorest were Infosys, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Hindalco, Bharti Airtel and GAIL.