In early trade on Monday, the rupee rose 6 paise to 76.44 against the US dollar, owing to a drop in global petroleum prices. However, currency traders claimed that the rupee’s advances were restrained by a sluggish trend in domestic equities and a strong dollar in the overseas market.

The rupee opened strong at 76.48 against the US dollar on the interbank foreign exchange, rising 6 paise from the previous close to 76.44. The rupee had finished at 76.50 against the greenback in the previous session.

The 30-share Sensex was down 336.59 points, or 0.59 percent, at 56,724.28, while the wider NSE Nifty was down 102.60 points, or 0.60 percent, at 16,999.95 on the domestic equity market.

The dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of six currencies, increased by 0.43 percent to 103.40.

Brent crude futures fell 0.94 percent to USD 106.13 per barrel, the global benchmark. According to exchange data, foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Friday, offloading shares worth Rs 3,648.30 crore.