The Indian rupee appreciated 7 paise to 73.61 against the US dollar in opening trade on Tuesday, tracking a positive trend in domestic equities and sustained foreign fund inflows.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 73.62 against the dollar, then edged higher to 73.61, up 7 paise over its previous close.

In initial deals, the local unit touched a low of 73.65 against the American currency.

On Monday, the rupee had settled at 73.68 against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was fell 0.10 per cent at 92.58.

On the domestic macro-economic front, subdued prices of food items like vegetables pulled down retail inflation for the third month in a row to 5.3 per cent in August, within the Reserve Bank of India's comfort zone.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market on Monday as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,419.31 crore, as per exchange data.

On the domestic equity market front, BSE Sensex was trading 244.08 points or 0.42 per cent higher at 58,421.84, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 70.75 points or 0.41 per cent to 17,426.05.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.75 per cent to $74.06 per barrel.