Indian rupee gains as stx seen higher; Asian units up

MUMBAI, Oct 30 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee strengthened past the 47 per dollar mark early on Friday, extending gains into a second session, helped by a rise in global equity markets and higher regional currencies.

* At 9:04 a.m. the partially convertible rupee INR=IN was at 46.85/86 per dollar, stronger than its close of 47.21/22 on Thursday when it had dropped to as low as 47.6250, its weakest since Oct. 5.

* Most Asian currencies were stronger compared to the dollar. For a snapshot see [EMRG/FRX]

* The U.S. dollar was back on the defensive on Friday as a bout of profit taking in growth-linked currencies and the euro seemed to have run its course with investors piling back into risk. [USD/]

* At 0334 GMT, the MSCI index .MIAPJ0000PUS of Asian stocks ex-Japan was up 2 percent while the Nifty India stock futures SINc1 traded in Singapore were 1.1 percent higher, both suggesting a firm start in the local sharemarket. (Reporting by Swati Bhat; Editing by Sunil Nair)