The rupee made a tepid rise of 3 paise to 64.76 against the US dollar in early part of the day as selling of the American currency by exporters and banks gathered pace.
However, the dollar's overseas strength against some currencies and a sharply lower opening in the domestic equity market held the
rupee tight, forex traders said.On Friday, the rupee had clawed back some of its lost ground from its near 6-month low and ended a marginal 2 paise higher at 64.79 per dollar.
Meanwhile, the benchmark Sensex dropped as much as 287.50 points to 31,634.94 in early trade today.