MUMBAI: The rupee jumped 41 paise to close at 78.65 (provisional) against the US dollar on Tuesday buoyed by persistent foreign fund inflows into capital markets and softening crude oil prices.

At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened strong at 78.96 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 78.49 and a low of 78.96.

It finally ended at 78.65 against the American currency, a rise of 41 paise over its previous close.

In the previous session, the rupee had closed at 79.06 against the US dollar.

"Against the odds, the Indian rupee and equities outperformed in the region as foreign institutions turned into net buyers of equities and debt. The dollar-long liquidation, FPI inflows, lower crude oil prices and improvement in high-frequency data very well supported the rupee gains," Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, said.

Going ahead, the bias remains downward as the pair is closing below 50 days' simple moving average and a level below 78.50 will give way for 77.60. "However, one should adjust their position as per the geopolitical updates from US-China", he added.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 20.86 points or 0.04 per cent higher at 58,136.36, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 5.40 points or 0.03 per cent to 17,345.45.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.38 per cent to USD 99.65 per barrel.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, strengthened by 0.10 per cent at 105.55.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market on Monday, purchasing shares worth Rs 2,320.61 crore, as per exchange data.