The rupee strengthened by 10 paise to 64.34 against the U.S. dollar in early trade on Tuesday on increased selling of the American currency by banks and exporters.
Forex dealers said that apart from sustained selling of the greenback by banks and exporters, a higher opening of the domestic equity market backed up the rupee at the Interbank Foreign Exchange.
However, the U.S. dollar’s strength against other currencies overseas capped the rupee’s gain, they added.
On Monday, the rupee had closed at a nearly two-week high by rising 17 paise at 64.44 against the U.S. currency on heavy selling of the dollar by exporters.
Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex surged 167.59 points, or 0.57 per cent, to 29,823.43 in early trade.