Rupee drops by 46 paise on fresh dollar demand

The Indian rupee snapped out of its last six-session winning spree and slumped by 46 paise to 45.10 per dollar in the early trade on fresh dollar demand from banks on the back of higher dollar overseas.
    
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange market, the domestic unit opened at 44.90/92 per dollar as against the overnight closing level of 44.64/65 per dollar and dropped further to 45.10 before quoting at 45.00/02 per dollar at 1030hrs.
    
The US dollar extended gains against major currencies yesterday in New York market after reversing a loss against the euro before the Irish parliament voted on its deficit- slashing austerity budget.
    
Oil fell in Asian trade today as traders booked profits after prices reached two-year high on Monday, analysts said. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for Jan delivery, slid by 67 cents to 88.02 dollars per barrel.