Mumbai: The rupee settled for the day 5 paise lower at 83.56 against the US dollar on Thursday, weighed down by a weak tone in domestic markets and a recovery in crude oil prices. Forex traders said rupee traded with a slight negative bias on profit booking in the domestic market, which may result in foreign fund outflows. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.49, but lost ground and touched an intraday low of 83.59 against the American currency during the session. It finally settled at 83.56 against the dollar, 5paisa lower than its previous close.

On Wednesday, the rupee stayed range-bound and settled 2paise lower at 83.51 against the US dollar. “Elevated crude oil prices may also weigh on the rupee. However, soft US Dollar and positive Asian currencies may support the rupee at lower levels. Traders may take cues from inflation and weekly unemployment claims data from the US. USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of Rs83.35 to Rs83.80,” said Anuj Choudhary -- Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.16 per cent lower at 104.87.