The rupee weakened by 10 paise to 54.98 against the dollar on the Interbank Foreign Exchange market in early trade today.Increased demand for the dollar from banks and importers mainly put pressure on the rupee.A firm opening in the domestic equity market and easing dollar against other currencies overseas, however, capped the fall.The rupee had lost 11 paise to close at 54.88 against dollar in the previous session on Friday due to sustained demand for the US currency for oil and gold related payments.