Mumbai, May 7: The rupee strengthened by 8 paise to 66.79 against the dollar in early trade today on fresh selling of the US currency by exporters and banks amid the higher opening in the domestic equity market. Forex dealers said besides selling of the American currency by exporters and banks, weakness in the dollar against some currencies overseas propped up the rupee.

Further, a higher opening in the domestic equity market influenced the rupee uptrend, they added. On Friday, the rupee had lost 23 paise to close at 66.87 against the US currency in highly volatile trade. Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex rose by 128.38 points, or 0.36 percent, at 35,043.76 in early trade today.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)