The Indian rupee snapped its 6-day winning spree and dropped by 17 paise to 45.75 against the American currency in the early trade on month-end dollar demand from importers despite weak dollar overseas.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit opened lower at 45.63/64 a dollar from its last close of 45.58/59 per dollar and dropped further to 45.75 per dollar before quoting at 45.70/71 per dollar at 10:30 am.
Month-end dollar demand from oil refiners mainly affected the rupee value against the dollar, a forex dealer said.
Crude Oil was down in Asian trade today as weak US energy demand kept a lid on prices despite a weak dollar. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for November, was down two cents to $74.69 a barrel in morning trade and Brent North Sea crude for delivery in November was off four cents at $77.91.