The Hindu Business Line : Forex reserves rise by $1.8 b

Mumbai, June 27 After a huge slump of over $4 billion last week, forex reserves for the week ended June 20 increased by $1.794 billion to touch $312.481 billion.

The rise in the foreign exchange reserves was mainly on account of currency valuation, as the RBI was not seen buying dollars in the recent past, said forex dealers.

For the week ended June 20, foreign exchange reserves had fallen $4.973 billion to $310.687 billion.

According to the Weekly Statistical Supplement released by the Reserve Bank of India, foreign currency assets increased by $1.789 billion to touch $302.744 billion, in the week under consideration.

Foreign currency assets expressed in dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies (such as euro, sterling, yen) held in reserves.

During the week, the euro strengthened against the dollar from $1.5427 to $1.5568.

Gold reserves were unchanged at $9.202 billion and SDRs were unchanged at $11 million. The country’s reserve position in the IMF increased by $5 million to touch $524 million.

According to a chief forex dealer with a private bank, the RBI has been actively selling dollars in the market over the past two weeks in order to keep the rupee from depreciating sharply. “The rupee is likely to be rangebound next week, as the RBI will protect the rupee from weakening too much. It is also not likely to strengthen immediately, because dollar outflows are in excess of inflows,” he said.

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