Tuesday, June 6 2006 11:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The rupee turned extremely weak and today fell sharply against the US currency as the dollar strengthened in overseas markets amid rising crude prices.

The rupee's depreciation was also attributed to a stocks crash of about 329 points this morning.

Appreciating by about 58 paise in the last two days to close at Rs 45.77/79 a dollar yesterday, the rupee came under pressure in the absence of any dollar sales and a meltdown on Indian bourses, forex dealers said.

In continued volatile trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market here, the Indian Unit opened sharply lower at Rs 45.87/89 per dollar from overnight close of Rs 45.77/79 and later weakened further to Rs 45.94/95 a dollar during late morning deals.

The dollar firmed up against major currencies in the International markets.