After a brief weekend recovery, the rupee continued its south-bound journey and depreciated by 44 paise to close at more than a one-week low of 47.55/56 against the dollar, moving in line with the sluggish local equity markets amid a firm dollar overseas.

In active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local unit resumed lower at 47.30/31 a dollar from its last weekend's close of 47.11/12 a dollar.

Forex dealers said a sharp surge in the dollar against the basket of currencies on Friday largely weighed on rupee sentiment.

Initially, the rupee touched a high of 47.25 but fell to a low of 47.75 before ending at 47.55/56 a dollar, a fall of 0.93 per cent over its last close.

Traders attributed the fall in the rupee mainly to bearish equity markets where the Indian benchmark Sensex today dipped by 437.63 points, its third-biggest fall in the current calendar year, or 2.90 per cent.

According to stockbrokers, foreign institutional investors (FIIs), who were aggressive buyers in the recent days, once again turned net sellers, impacting negatively on rupee sentiment.

Meanwhile, the global crude oil prices were trading above USD 67 a barrel in Asian trade