The rupee gained 45 paise to close at 79.24 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday as heavy buying in domestic equities and weakness in the greenback bolstered investor sentiment.

Besides, fresh foreign capital inflows also supported the domestic unit, forex dealers said.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the domestic currency opened strong at 79.55 per dollar. It hovered in a range of 79.56 to 79.17 during the session.

The domestic unit finally settled at 79.24 against the greenback, a gain of 45 paise over its last close.

In the previous session, the rupee appreciated 22 paise to close at 79.69 against the US dollar.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 712.46 points or 1.25 per cent higher at 57,570.25, while the broader NSE Nifty rose 228.65 points or 1.35 per cent to 17,158.25.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, slipped 0.21 per cent to 106.13.

Foreign institutional investors turned net buyers in the capital markets as they picked up shares worth Rs 1,637.69 crore on Thursday, as per exchange data.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 2.28 per cent to USD 109.58 per barrel.