The Indian rupee weakened 16 paise against the US dollar in early trade today on capital outflow by foreign funds in anticipation that the domestic markets may open down, in tandem with other Asian bourses.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local unit fell 16 paise to 47.44 a dollar. Yesterday, the domestic currency had ended 18 paise lower at 47.28/30 against the greenback.