The Indian rupee continues to stay range bound near record low levels tracking sharp surge in dollar yesterday and muted local equities. INR opened at Rs 88.80 per dollar and inched up to 88.78 so far during the day. Yesterday, rupee traded with a slight negative bias and hovered near its all-time low levels before settling for the day at 88.79 against the US dollar, lower by 4 paise, as strong greenback demand and ongoing trade tensions between India and the US weighed on investor sentiments. Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty rose around half a percent each on Thursday, after having snapped their four-day winning run the previous day. The rupee fell by 4 paise to close at 88.79 against the dollar. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers of shares to the extent of Rs 1,308.16 crore on Thursday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares to the tune of Rs 864.36 crore, according to provisional exchange data.