The Indian rupee today gained 7 paise against the US currency in early trade on hopes of fresh capital inflows into stock markets in line with firming trends on other Asian markets.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local unit appreciated by 7 paise to 46.67 a dollar. The rupee had ended 8 paise lower at 46.74 in last trading.

Dealers said expectations of fresh capital inflows into domestic equities by foreign funds which may open higher in tandem with other Asian markets which were up over one per cent in early trade, mainly supported the Indian rupee.

However, dollar's firmness against other currencies capped the gains.