The rupee opened higher against the greenback on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session, after the domestic currency closed at nearly two-and-a-half-month-low of 70.51 earlier this week.

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At 09:10 AM, the rupee was trading at 70.25 a dollar, up 13 paise from its Tuesday’s close of 70.44. The home currency opened at 70.34 and touched a high and a low of 70.25 and 70.34 a dollar, respectively.

Investor sentiment took a beating amid a fresh deterioration in the Sino-US tariff war.

China said would impose higher tariffs on a range of US goods, a move that followed Washington's decision last week to hike its own levies on $200 billion in Chinese imports.

Foreign fund outflows, rising crude prices and US-China trade-related concerns continued to weigh on the domestic currency, dealers said.

In the currency market, the dollar was firm as US-China trade war worries continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

The dollar index against a basket of six key rivals was steady at 97.542, having risen 0.2 percent during the previous session.

Market participants are now focused on data out of China and Europe to provide the latest pointers on the state of the global economy.

In the spotlight on Wednesday are Chinese industrial production and retail sales for April, due at about 0200 GMT.

In commodity markets, oil eased after closely watched data showed a surprise rise in US crude stockpiles.

International Brent crude futures were at $70.90 a barrel at 0100 GMT, down 41 cents, or 0.7 percent, from their last close.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital markets, pulling out Rs 2,011.85 crore on a net basis Tuesday, provisional exchange data showed.

In debt markets, the yields on the 10-year government bonds were down 0.04 percent to 7.38 percent from its previous close of 7.38 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.