MUMBAI, Dec 3 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee strengthened past 50 per dollar in early trade on Wednesday on hopes of some foreign inflows into the local share market, but then eased as stocks failed to follow overseas leads. At 10:15 a.m. (0445 GMT), the partially convertible rupee was at 49.98/50.00 per dollar, off an early high of 49.75 but still 0.3 percent stronger than its previous close of 50.15/16. It had hit a record low of 50.65 during trade on Tuesday. "The stock market would be the key today," said a senior dealer at a private bank. "The central bank had aggressively defended the 50.40-50.50 levels in the previous session, so there is likely to be some resistance around those levels now". Indian shares opened 1.3 percent higher lifted by gains in global markets, but soon turned negative. See [.BO]. Foreign fund flows have been a key factor determining the rupee's direction in the last two years. Capital outflows of a net $13.6 billion so far in 2008, have helped drag the rupee down more than 22 percent against the dollar. Last year, record inflows of $17.4 billion had helped the local unit rise more than 12 percent. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts PNDF were quoting at 50.50/65 per dollar, weaker than the onshore spot rate, indicating a bearish near-term outlook. (Reporting by Swati Bhat; Editing by John Mair)

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