The Indian rupee opened on a cautious note and fell 8 paise to 71.89 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday tracking muted opening in domestic equities.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 71.83 then fell to 71.89 against the US dollar, showing a decline of 8 paise over its previous closing.

Foreign institutional investors remained net buyers in the capital markets, as they purchased shares worth Rs 566.52 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional data.

Traders were also awaiting fresh cues on the potential US-China trade deal.Meanwhile, brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.29 per cent to USD 62.22 per barrel.

Domestic bourses opened on a cautious note on Thursday with benchmark indices Sensex trading 4.04 points down at 40,647.60 and Nifty lower by 7.30 points at 11,991.80.