The rupee opened at 69.95 on Friday, and rose by as much as 54 paise against the dollar. However, it gave up some of those advances by the end of the session to settle at 69.72 for the day.

Selling of the dollar by exporters and banks supported the rupee, say analysts, but rising crude oil prices and foreign fund outflows kept the gains in check.

Brent futures - the international benchmark for crude oil - were last seen trading at $57-a-barrel levels, up more than 2 per cent from the previous close.

Domestic stock markets finished 0.5 per cent higher after see-sawing between gains and losses in a session marked with high volatility. The Nifty reclaimed the 10,700 mark while the Sensex settled about five points shy of 36,000, supported by financial stocks.

“The weaker US economic data and end of US government's partial shutdown added strength in Asian currencies… Dollar index is poised to fall for a third week,” said VK Sharma, head PCG and capital markets strategy, HDFC Securities.

The dollar index - which measures the greenback against six major peers - was last seen trading 0.20 per cent higher. It was set to finish lower for the week.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional and portfolio investors offloaded equities worth a net $171 million so far this week as of Thursday.

Foreign outflows from Asian equities were the biggest in at least 7 years in 2018. Data from stock exchanges in countries including India showed foreign investors sold a net $33.6 billion worth of equities last year, which was the biggest since at least 2012.

Resumption of trade talks between China and the United States and by encouraging surveys of China's services sector supported the world markets. Global markets have had a rough start to 2019, hurt by a revenue warning from iPhone maker Apple and concern about slowing global economic growth.