The rupee gained 11 paise to Rs 44.84 a dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on Friday.

Forex dealers said that besides dollar’s weakness against other currencies overseas, higher opening on the stock markets and dollar’s selling by exporters kept rupee’s sentiment firm, as it gained for the fourth straight session on Friday.

The rupee had ended 8 paise higher at 44.95/96 a dollar, almost its two-week high in the previous session following a rally in equities and random dollar selling by exporters and banks.

Meanwhile, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex moved up by 93.19 points to 20,482.26 in the opening trade on Friday.