Mumbai, July 30 - Month-end dollar demand from importers amid firm dollar overseas weighed on the rupee as it depreciated by 24 paise to end at 55.58 against the Greenback, snapping straight two-day of gainins string.

However, sharp rally in local equities amid renewed capital inflows, somewhat, capped the rupee fall to some extent, a forex dealer said.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit commenced better at 55.28 a dollar from last Friday's close of 55.34 and immediately touched a high of 55.20 on strong local stocks for the straight second session.

It, later, turned weak on dollar buying by importers, mainly oil refiners, to meet their month-end requirements and also recovery in dollar overseas, to a low of 55.62 before concluding at 55.58, showing a fall of 0.43 pct. In last two sessions, it had gained 82 paise or 1.46 pct.

The dollar index, a gauge of six major global currencies, was up by nearly 0.24 pct following fall in euro on doubts over the success of the European Central Bank's (ECB) policy actions to protect the eurozone. The New York crude oil was trading around USD 90 a barrel in Europe today.

The Indian benchmark sensex, after gaining by over 199 points last weekend, today spurted by over 304 points or 1.81 pct while Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) pumped in USD 115.89 million last Friday as per Sebi data.

Mr. Pramit Brahmbhatt, CEO, Alpari Financial Services (India) said," The INR turned weak after initial gains in spite of solid gains in Indian bourses mainly tracking weak global currencies which shed some of their last weekend gains.

The Italian bond yields didn't put the expected respite raising questions on the recent comments of ECB to tackle the debt contagion weighed on the single currency." PTI