Mumbai, June 26 (PTI): The rupee today dragged further lower to over 2-week low of 40.99/41.00 against the US dollar in late morning deals on heavy month-end dollar demand amid intervention of the central bank.

In active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic currency opened sharply lower at 40.96/97 a dollar from Monday's close of 40.87/88 a dollar and dropped further to 40.99/41.00 per dollar in late morning deals, down by another twelve paise.

Yesterday it had also dropped by twelve paise.

Sustained dollar buying by oil refinery companies and other importers to meet their month-end-dollar demand weighed on the rupee sentiment, forex dealers said.

Global crude oil prices remained high above USD 69 a barrel and inching towards USD 70 a barrel that forced oil companies to buy dollar.

Slow down in foreign funds inflows in last two days also helped the dollar recovery.

Suspected intervention of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to keep a break on the rupee's surge to protect exporters' competitiveness also dampened the rupee sentiment.

Dealers were also concerned over the news that the Prime Minister was in consultation with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor on macro measures that might need to be taken if the rupee continues its north bound journey and as a result, they decided to cover their short dollar positions.