Rupee weakened by 6 paise to 66.58 against the dollar in early trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market largely because of month-end demand for the US currency from importers.

The month-end demand from banks and importers and a lower opening of the domestic equity market mainly weighed on the rupee, forex dealers said.

A weakness in the US dollar against some currencies in the global market hit by weaker-than-expected durable goods orders data, however, limited the fall, they added.

On Tuesday, the rupee had gained 10 paise to close at 66.52 against the dollar on fag-end selling of the American unit by banks and exporters and a strong bounceback by domestic equities.