Early trade on Thursday saw the rupee rise 27 paise to 71.85 against the US dollar as gains in domestic equity market enthused investors.

Registering a rise of 27 paise over its previous close, the rupee, which opened at 71.87 at the interbank foreign exchange, gained further ground and touched a high of 71.85.

Rupee had settled at 72.12 against the US dollar on Wednesday.

The domestic unit however could not hold on to the gains and was trading at 71.93 against the dollar at 9:55am.

Forex traders said higher opening in domestic equities supported the rupee.

Domestic bourses opened on a positive note on Thursday with benchmark indices Sensex trading 119.07 points higher at 36,843.81 and NIFTY up 40.95 points at 10,885.60.