Mumbai, Jul 31 (PTI) The rupee maintained its upward trajectory, rising 20 paise to 95.30 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday, tracking foreign capital inflows and a decline in global crude oil prices.

However, a stronger greenback capped sharper gains in the local unit, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 95.40 before rising further to 95.30, up 20 paise from its previous close.

Rising for the fifth straight session, the rupee surged 26 paise to close at 95.50 against the US dollar on Thursday.

"The rupee is likely to continue to move back & forth in today's session, gain some strength against US dollar due to modest pullback in oil prices, while expectations of continued intervention from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) keeps it supported," Aamir Makda, Commodity & Currency Analyst, Technical Research, Choice Broking.

Meanwhile, the US and Iran each fired barrages of missiles on Thursday, as the pattern of back-and-forth strikes took hold again and hope dimmed for any quick resolution.

After a brief respite, the risk of a return to all-out war emerged once more, with the fighting threatening to engulf even more countries. Jordan said on Thursday it intercepted Iranian missiles for the second consecutive day, while Kuwait said a strike in the northern part of the country killed one person.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading up 0.35 per cent at 100.21.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, were trading sharply down by 0.98 per cent at USD 88.16 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex advanced 49.91 points to 77,970.95 in early trade on Friday while the Nifty was up 28 points to 24,343.65.

Foreign Institutional Investors purchased equities worth Rs 3,623.51 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to exchange data. PTI TRB TRB DR DR