The Indian rupee strengthened by 10 paise against the US currency in the opening trade today on expectations of capital inflows by foreign funds as the stock market may open firm in line with other rising Asian bourses.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit gains 10 paise to 48.63 a dollar. Yesterday, the rupee closed 25 paise lower at 48.73/74 a dollar after the BSE Sensex fell by over 50 points.