Rupee rises 15 paise to ₹87.73 against US dollar in early trade

The rupee rose 15 paise to ₹87.73 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday amid a weakening greenback as markets awaited the outcome of the Reserve Bank's MPC meet.

However, a rise in global Brent crude prices and FII outflows capped further gains in the local unit, forex traders said, adding that markets continued to wait for the outcome on the US tariffs.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at ₹87.72 against the US dollar before dipping marginally to ₹87.73, registering a rise of 15 paise from its previous close.

The rupee revisited its all-time low level and ended with a loss of 22 paise at ₹87.88 against the US dollar on Tuesday, as risk-off sentiment deepened after US President Donald Trump renewed threats to raise tariffs on Indian goods over New Delhi's continued purchases of Russian oil.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra-headed rate-setting panel, which started the three-day deliberations to decide the next bi-monthly monetary policy on Monday, is scheduled to announce the policy rate on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Brent crude prices rose 0.62% to USD 68.06 per barrel in futures trade.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.07% to 98.71.

In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose 113.41 points to 80,823.66 in early trade, while Nifty was up 19.20 points to 24,668.75.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹22.48 crore on a net basis on Tuesday, according to exchange data.