Mumbai: The rupee was trading lower by 15 paise at 67.98 against the American currency in early trade today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market as the dollar firmed up overseas.
Forex dealers said increased month-end demand for the U.S. currency from importers and dollar's gains against other currencies overseas put pressure on the rupee.
They said, however, a higher opening in the domestic equity market, capped the rupee's losses.
The rupee had ended 20 paise down at 67.83 against the U.S. dollar on Monday following a renewed demand for the greenback.
The forex market remained closed yesterday for the Republic Day.
Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex rose 159.75 points, or 0.65 percent, to 24,645.70 in early trade today.
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