The Indian rupee recovered from record low level and closed 12 paise higher at 87.76 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday, supported by a volatile greenback and the Reserve Bank's decision to hold interest rate steady. However, rising crude oil prices, negative cues from domestic equities, uncertainties around the US tariff on India limited gains in the counter. At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 87.72 and moved in a range of 87.63-87.80 during the day. Indian shares ended modestly lower on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said that he would increase the tariffs charged on Indian imports "very substantially" over the next 24 hours because of India's continued purchases of Russian oil.

Maintaining the repo rate at 5.50 percent, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the central bank will continue to monitor macroeconomic conditions on a policy-to-policy basis. The central bank has projected CPI inflation for FY26 at 3.1 percent and retained its projection for real GDP growth for FY26 at 6.5 percent. The benchmark BSE Sensex moved in a narrow range before ending the session down 166.26 points, or 0.21 percent, at 80,543.99. The broader NSE Nifty index dropped 75.35 points, or 0.31 percent, to 24,574.20. On the NSE, USDINR futures edged lower to end at 87.80.