Mumbai, February 7: The rupee strengthened by 20 paise to 64.04 against the dollar at the interbank forex market today on fresh selling of the American currency by exporters and banks ahead of the announcement of RBI's monetary policy.

Dealers said dollar's weakness against other currencies overseas and early gains in domestic equity markets supported the rupee. Yesterday, the rupee had tumbled 17 paise to end at a fresh seven-week low of 64.24 against the US dollar.

According to the provisional exchange data, foreign investors sold shares worth Rs 2,326.10 crore on net basis yesterday. The benchmark BSE Sensex recovered by 470.39 points, or 1.36 percent, to 34,666.33 in opening trade today.