Mumbai, Aug 7 (PTI) The rupee settled with a 5 paise gain at 95.17 against the US dollar on Friday, backed by an inflow of foreign capital despite heightened risk aversion due to fragile negotiations between Iran and Oman over the Strait of Hormuz.

Forex traders said risk aversion in global markets due to uncertainty on the deal between Iran and Oman and an overnight jump in crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiments.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 95.27 against the greenback and traded in a range of 95.16-95.28 during the session. It eventually settled at 95.17, higher by 5 paise from its previous close.

On Thursday, the rupee depreciated 14 paise to close at 95.22 against the US dollar.

"We expect the rupee to trade with a slight negative bias on uncertainty over the deal between Iran and Oman over the Strait of Hormuz. However, markets may remain volatile over any decision over the weekend.

"Any positive news may support the rupee and vice versa. Traders may also take cues from the non-farm employment report from the US. USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of 95 to 95.60," said Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst, Mirae Asset ShareKhan.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading at 99.90, down 0.02 per cent.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 0.23 per cent at USD 82.30 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, Sensex dropped 455.59 points to settle at 78,499.17, while the Nifty was down 65.35 points to 24,570.65.

Foreign institutional investors purchased equities worth Rs 480.24 crore on a net basis on Friday, according to exchange data.

The RBI data released on Friday showed the country's forex reserves jumped by USD 10.512 billion to USD 692.866 billion during the week ended July 31. The overall kitty had jumped by USD 6.118 billion to USD 682.354 billion in the previous reporting week. PTI DRR HVA