The Indian rupee hit a two-week high on Friday as a corporate sold a sizeable amount of dollars, but then trimmed its gains as unexpectedly weak industrial output data sparked a stock market sell-off and oil hit a record high.
The partially convertible rupee ended at 42.87/88 per dollar, off an intraday high of 42.68, its strongest since June 26, but still 0.3 percent higher than Thursday's close of 42.99/43.00. It had hit a 15-month low of 43.50 last week.
"There was heavy dollar selling from a large corporate, which offset the pressures from weaker stocks and lower-than-expected industrial output data, but the dollar-rupee did recover from 42.68 levels," a dealer with a private bank said. "Oil has also hit a fresh record, if it continues to stay at these levels, it will affect the market sentiment," he added.