Amid a firm trend in domestic equity markets and a weaker greenback against major overseas rivals, the rupee increased 1 paisa to 83.95 against the USD in early trade on Thursday. According to Forex Experts, an increase in oil prices globally and heavy foreign fund outflows has capped further recovery in the domestic currency.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 83.95 which was marginally up by 1 paisa against the US dollar. Also to note, it traded almost flat in early deals. The local unit had settled at 83.96 against the greenback on Wednesday. The RBI’s decision to keep policy rates unchanged has also played a part in the rupee's range-bound movement.

Furthermore, the RBI has kept the policy rate unchanged for the tenth time in a row. However, it shifted its stance from "withdrawal of accommodation" to "neutral." With this, it may lead to a cut in the forthcoming policies.

At the same time, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, witnessed 0.06 percent decrease to 102.86 points. Brent crude, the international benchmark, gained 0.80 per cent to USD 77.19 per barrel in futures trade.

In the domestic equity market, while Nifty was up 71.55 points to 25,053.50, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose 203.10 points to 81,670.20 in early trade. Additionally, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets this Wednesday; they offloaded shares which were worth a staggering INR 4,562.71 crore, according to exchange data.