Mumbai: The rupee declined 17 paise to 73.73 against the US dollar in opening trade on Monday amid weak domestic equities and strengthening American currency in the overseas market.

However, unabated foreign fund inflows and lower crude prices supported the rupee and restricted the fall, forex traders said.

At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened sharply lower at 73.74 against the greenback. It was trading 17 paise down at 73.73 in early deals.

In the previous session, the rupee strengthened by 3 paise to close at 73.56 against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading up 0.46 per cent at 90.37.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading points 7.69 lower at 46,953, and the broader NSE Nifty fell 9.05 points to 13,751.50 in opening session.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 2,720.95 crore on a net basis on Friday, according to exchange data.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 3.02 per cent to USD 50.68 per barrel.