The rupee inches lower on Monday, on capital outflow concerns in the backdrop of weak Asian stocks, and traders wary that further losses in stocks would offset dollar sales by exporters.

At 9.30 am the partially convertible rupee was at 42.975/980 per dollar, weaker than its previous close of 42.93/94 on Friday.

Finance Secretary D Subbarao said on Saturday the central bank was expected to take some more monetary action to counter rising inflation. The central bank had raised its key lending rate by 25 basis points to 8.0 percent this month.