MUMBAI (Reuters) – India’s foreign exchange reserves rose for a second straight week and hit a record high of $666.85 billion as of July 12, data from the central bank showed on Friday.
The reserves rose by $9.7 billion in the reporting week, the biggest jump in four months. Reserves had risen by $5.16 billion in the prior week.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervenes in the foreign exchange market to curb excess volatility in the rupee.
Changes in foreign currency assets are caused by the RBI’s intervention as well as the appreciation or depreciation of foreign assets held in the reserves.
Foreign exchange reserves also include India’s reserve tranche position in the International Monetary Fund.
In the week to which the latest foreign exchange data pertains, the rupee traded in a range of 83.43 to 83.5925 and logged marginal weekly losses.
The currency settled at a record closing low of 83.6625 on Friday, and logged its third consecutive weekly decline.
GOLD BUYING RISES IN JUNE:
Separately, the RBI bought 9.3 tonnes of gold in June, sharply higher than the average monthly purchase of 5.6 tonnes until June 28, data from the World Gold Council showed.
The central bank’s gold purchases in January-June totaled 37.1 tonnes, the highest since 2013, and represents a more-than-three-fold increase from last year, the World Gold Council said in a report dated July 17.
The RBI’s gold purchases have been the second largest in the world for the first six months of 2024, only after Turkey, and have surpassed those of China, as per the report.
FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES (in million U.S. dollars)
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July 12 July 05
2024 2024
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Foreign currency assets 585,470 577,110
Gold 58,663 57,432
SDRs 18,111 18,036
Reserve Tranche Position 4,609 4,578
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Total 666,854 657,155
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Source text: (https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx)
(Reporting by Siddhi Nayak; Editing by Sonia Cheema)
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