Rupee paused its slide and traded flat at 83.96 against the US dollar in early deals on Friday amid retreating crude oil prices and a weak American currency against major Asian rivals.

Subdued sentiment in the domestic equity markets amid massive outflow of foreign funds in the past three days played a spoilsport and prevented a recovery in the rupee, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the local unit opened at 83.96 against the greenback and failed to recover from the deep plunge witnessed in the previous session.

On Thursday, the rupee slid 14 paise to settle at 83.96 against the American currency.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.05 per cent to 101.69.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, skidded 0.03 per cent to USD 77.60 in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex showed a marginal recovery and inched up 7.26 points or 0.01 per cent to 82,504.36, while the Nifty was 78.60 points or 0.31 per cent down to 25,171.50. Both the indices crashed more than 2 per cent on Thursday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Thursday, offloading shares worth Rs 15,243.27 crore on a net basis in the cash segment, according to exchange data. FIIs have sold shares worth over Rs 30,000 crore since Monday.

Analysts said foreign investors rushed to sell Indian equities as Chinese stocks turned bullish after the country announced a slew of stimulus measures to revive the economy.

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