Mumbai, Jul 18 (PTI) The rupee stayed weak for the third straight session and settled 4 paise lower at 86.16 against the US dollar on Friday, amid rising global crude oil prices and a steep decline in domestic equity markets.

However, a weak greenback against major currencies prevented a sharp depreciation in the local unit, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened higher against the US dollar at 85.99 and moved in the range of 85.97-86.23 before closing at 86.16, down 4 paise from its previous close.

The rupee declined 20 paise to settle at 86.12 against the US dollar on Thursday, a day after registering a loss of 16 paise.

"...dollar buyers bought heavily to take rupee lower before we saw the Reserve Bank of India stepping in to control the pace of the fall", said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.

"We expect rupee to remain in the weakening mode till the deal with US is finalised and if it is not done then we could see rupee travel to 87 levels. For Monday, we expect rupee to trade in the range of 85.90-86.40," he said.

Negotiations between India and the US are underway to iron out pending issues for a trade deal, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday. The comments came a day after US President Donald Trump said Washington is "very close" to the trade pact with India.

Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, attributed the sustained downturn in rupee to lingering uncertainties surrounding the India-US trade pact, higher global crude oil prices, and foreign institutional selling domestic equities.

"The prevailing imbalance between dollar demand and supply further exacerbates the downward pressure on the rupee. From a technical perspective, the spot USD/INR pair is having support at 85.75 and encounters resistance at 86.30," Parmar said.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose sharply by 1.17 per cent to USD 70.33 per barrel in futures trade.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.36 per cent to 98.38.

In the domestic equity markets, the Sensex declined 501.51 points to settle at 81,757.73, while the Nifty dropped 143.05 points to close at 24,968.40.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned buyers and purchased equities worth Rs 374.74 crore on a net basis on Friday, according to exchange data. PTI TRB HVA

Currency depreciation persists amid trade-deal uncertainty and rising oil prices, prompting central bank intervention and equity-driven pressure. Rupee weakened to settle lower against the US dollar due to heavy dollar buying amid rising global crude prices, domestic equity declines, foreign institutional activity and uncertainty over India-US trade negotiations; market participants reported an imbalance between dollar demand and supply, noted technical support and resistance levels, and described Reserve Bank intervention to control the pace of the fall.