Mumbai, Nov 29 (PTI) The rupee started on a choppy note on Monday as investors turned cautious tracking heavy selling in domestic equities and worries over a new variant of COVID-19.<br> At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened higher by 5 paise at 74.84 against the greenback and later touched a high of 74.82. <br> However, the local unit pared gains in late morning deals amid high volatility. The rupee was trading down by 9 paise at 74.98 at 1035hrs. <br> On Friday, the rupee had plunged by 37 paise or 0.50 per cent against the US dollar to close at a nearly month's low of 74.89, as investors resorted to risk-off sentiment.<br> Investor concern resurfaced about lockdowns amid a rise in COVID cases in Europe and a new variant, detected in South Africa.<br> The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose by 0.19 per cent to 96.27.<br> Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude futures advanced 4.06 per cent to USD 75.67 per barrel.<br> Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Friday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 5,785.83 crore, as per exchange data.<br> On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 98.48 points or 0.17 per cent lower at 57,008.67, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 44.85 points or 0.26 per cent to 16,981.60. PTI DRR<br>MR MR