Saturday October 31, 03:09 AM

Source: Indian Express Finance

Forex reserves rise $684 million

By fe Bureaus
The country s foreign exchange reserves rose by $684 million to $285.5 billion in the week ended Oct 23, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its weekly statistical supplement released on Friday. While foreign currency assets climbed $450 million to $268.3 billion, gold reserves were unchanged at $10.3 billion, RBI said. Special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund increased by $17 million to $5.26 billion, while reserves with the IMF rose by $217 million to $1.58 billion. The rupee saw heavy strengthening against the dollar, with booming company earnings and flourishing stock markets. Another reason for the rupee s rise was the strong expansion in the US economy that improved prospects of a global recovery from the economic crisis. On Friday, the rupee climbed 0.5% to 46.97 against the dollar, compared to 47.21 on Thursday. We continue to stay with medium-term range of 46-47.50, with overshoot either way not to sustain, noted J Moses Harding, head of global markets group with Indusind Bank (INDUSINDB.NS : 120.65 -0.55). According to data released by Sebi, foreign investors raised total holdings of Indian shares to a record $69.6 billion on Oct 28. Bonds also witnessed a fall on speculation that the central bank will raise interest rates to temper inflation. The yield on the 10-year benchmark paper, 6.90% bond maturing 2019 rose by 3 bps, to 7.30%.