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Continuing its weakness for the third straight day, the rupee dropped below the 64 mark, falling 17 paise, to quote at 64.15 against the dollar in early trade today at the Interbank Foreign Exchange as the American currency firmed up overseas on strong economic data.
Besides, increased demand for the dollar from importers and a lower opening in the domestic equity market weighed on the local currency, forex dealers said.
The rupee had lost 41 paise to close at 63.98 in yesterday's trade on persistent dollar demand from banks and importers.
Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex fell 161.58 points, or 0.59%, to 27,369.83 in early trade today.
