Rupee falls 20 paise against US dollar in early trade

Mumbai: The rupee fell 20 paise to 65.40 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday on global trade war concerns, dip in India's exports in March and a sharp drop in domestic equities.

Geopolitical tensions over Syria and trade war concerns weighed on the domestic unit. But, a weak dollar against major global currencies capped some losses, forex dealers said.

India's exports dipped by 0.66 per cent to USD 29.11 billion in March, even as they increased by 9.78 per cent for the full 2017-18 fiscal.

The rupee closed higher by 6 paise at 65.20 in the previous session on Friday on the back of positive macroeconomic data and firm local equities.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 399.59 crore on net basis on Friday, provisional data showed.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex dropped 293.31 points, or 0.85 per cent, to 33,899.34 in opening deals.