Extending its gains for the seventh day in a row, the rupee strengthened by 9 paise to 66.24 against the U.S. dollar in early trade on Wednesday at the Inter-bank Foreign Exchange.
Besides selling of the U.S. currency by exporters and banks, a higher opening in domestic stock markets and the dollar’s weakness against some currencies overseas helped, dealers said.
The rupee had gained 2 paise to close at 66.33 in Tuesday’s trade.
Meanwhile, the Sensex climbed 209.87 points, or 0.82 per cent, at 25,800.52 in early trade.