Friday's rupee decline was 15 paise to 74.39 (provisional), against the US dollar. This is in line with a weak trend in domestic equities, and a strengthening of the American currency on the overseas market.
The interbank foreign currency market saw the domestic currency open lower than the American currency at 74.38 and settle at 74.39.
The local unit reached an intra-day high at 74.38, and a low at 74.47 against US currency.
The rupee settled at 74.24 against US dollars on Wednesday. Due to ''Muharram,'' the forex market was closed Thursday.
"The Indian rupee suffered the largest weekly loss in six consecutive weeks and was the worst performer of Asian peers today," stated Dilip Parmar Research Analyst at HDFC Securities.
Parmar also noted that "heavy buying of the dollar has been observed as risk sentiment deteriorates amid concerns that the Delta virus strain might derail the global recovery, and that the US Federal Reserves could start tapering sooner than expected".
The dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket six currencies, traded 0.09 percent higher at 93.65.
Brent crude futures, the benchmark global oil price, fell 0.59 percent to USD 66.06 a barrel.
Domestic equity market: The BSE Sensex closed at 300.17 points, or 0.54 percent lower, at 55,329.32. Meanwhile, the wider NSE Nifty fell 118.35 point or 0.71 percent to 16,450.50.
According to exchange data, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital markets on Wednesday, as they sold shares worth Rs 595.32 Crore.