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The Reserve Bank of India likely intervened to support the rupee before the open of the local spot market ahead of a closely-watched monetary policy decision on Friday, four traders told Reuters.

The rupee was quoting at 87.56-87.58 on the interbank matching system around 08:45 a.m. IST, but strengthened quickly to open at 87.45 at 09:00 a.m. IST. The currency was last quoted at 87.4525.

State-run banks were spotted selling dollars, most likely on behalf of the RBI, the traders said.

"My orders at 87.54, 87.50 and 87.46 all got filled up before the market opened. All the names I got were state-run banks," one of the traders said.

The dollar index was little changed at 107.8 while other Asian currencies were mostly higher. The RBI will announce its decision at 10 a.m. IST, and is widely expected to cut rates by 25 basis points.