Mumbai: The rupee recovered by 12 paise to 61.74 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on fresh selling of the American currency by exporters.

Forex dealers said the dollar's weakness against other currencies overseas and a higher opening in the domestic equity market also supported the rupee.

The rupee had lost 45 paise against the dollar yesterday, its worst single-session drop in nearly seven weeks, to end at 61.86 on month-end dollar demand from importers and banks amid speculation that the

US Federal Reserve is considering raising interest rates later this year.

The benchmark BSE Sensex rose 162.39 points, or 0.54 per cent, to hit yet another record-high of 29,844.16 in early trade today.--PTI