The rupee on Wednesday fell below the 53 mark intra-day before closing at nearly four-month low of 52.96/97, down by 23 paise against the US currency, due to firm dollar demand and fears of more capital outflows.

Strong dollar overseas and expectations of more capital outflows in the wake of uncertain local equities weighed on the rupee, a dealer said.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit touched a high of 52.55 in early trade on firm local stocks and dollar selling by exporters.

However, the rupee soon started losing and immediately fell to below 53-level of 53.03 on weakness in equities amid firm dollar overseas.

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