Rupee rises by 9 paise to 48.73 a dollar in opening trade.

The Indian rupee strengthened by 9 paise against the US currency in the opening trade today on dollar selling by banks and exporters.

Weak dollar against some other currencies and hopes of fresh capital inflows by foreign funds into equity markets as market may open higher in line with recovery on the other Asian bourses, also supported the Indian rupee.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit gained 9 paise to quote at 48.73 a dollar over the previous close. Yesterday, the rupee closed 17 paise weaker at 48.82/83 after the BSE Sensex fell over 255 points, or 1.61 per cent down.

Forex dealers said selling of US dollar by banks and weak dollar against some other currencies, mainly supported the Indian unit.