India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves snapped a
India’s foreign exchange (forex) reserves snapped a three-week losing streak and stood at $602.16 billion as of August 11, data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed on Friday. The reserves rose by $700 million from the week earlier, having fallen by a total of $7.6 billion in the prior three weeks.
According to the weekly statistical supplement released by the RBI, foreign currency assets (FCAs) increased by $999 million to $534.40 billion. Expressed in dollar terms, the FCAs include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units such as the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.
Gold reserves dipped by $340 million to $44.34 billion, while SDRs were up by $51 million to $18.32 billion. The changes in FCAs, expressed in dollar terms, include the effects of appreciation or depreciation of other currencies held in the RBI reserves. Forex reserves include India’s Reserve Tranche position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The central bank also intervenes in the spot and forwards markets to prevent runaway moves in the rupee. The RBI likely sold dollars via public sector banks this week to ensure that the rupee does not fall to a record low, according to news agency Reuters.
In the week for which the forex reserves data pertains, the rupee traded in a range of 82.6725 to 82.8525 against the dollar. The rupee ended at 83.1025 on Friday, down 0.2 per cent for the week.
A muted trend in domestic equities, foreign fund outflows and rising crude oil prices weighed on the domestic unit, according to forex traders. They added that rupee is likely to trade with a negative bias on risk aversion in global markets and firm US dollar.
The US dollar index, which measures the currency against six peers, edged 0.1 per cent higher at 103.53, after touching a two-month high at 103.59 on Thursday. For the week, it is set to gain 0.6 per cent, according to currency data.
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