Rupee down 22 paise at 53.44/dollar

Fresh demand for US currency weighs on rupee

The rupee today depreciated by 22 paise to 53.44 against the dollar in early trade on the Interbank Foreign Exchange on fresh demand for the US currency.

Forex dealers said strong foreign fund flows and dollar's gain against other currencies overseas, capped rupee's fall to some extent.

A higher opening in the equity market, covered the rupee's losses, they said.

The rupee had ended six paise lower at 53.22 against the dollar in the previous session due to sustained dollar demand after government estimates pegged current fiscal's GDP growth at a decade low of 5%.

Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark Sensex rose by 51.70 points, or 0.26%, to 19,632.02 in the early trade today.