The Indian rupee appreciated 4 paise to ₹77.62 against the U.S. dollar in opening trade on Monday, supported by a weak American currency in the overseas markets.
However, muted domestic equities, elevated crude oil prices and persistent foreign fund outflows restricted the rupee's rise, forex traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened slightly strong at ₹77.65 against the American dollar and gained further momentum to quote ₹77.62, registering a rise of 4 paise from the last close.
In the previous session, the rupee had settled at ₹77.66 against the U.S. dollar.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.04% lower at 102.10.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.79% to $120.66 per barrel.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 106.93 points or 0.19% lower at 55,662.30 points, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 26.35 points or 0.16% to 16,557.95.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Friday as they offloaded shares worth ₹3,770.51 crore, as per stock exchange data.
With rising inflation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to increase the benchmark lending rate during its monetary policy review meeting this week.
The central bank may go for at least 35 basis points (bps) hike over and above the 40 bps hike effected last month after an off-cycle Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting.
