India’s foreign exchange reserves stood at $352.71 billion as of June 5, a shade lower than the all-time high of $354 billion touched on May 15, data from the Reserve Bank of India showed.
Forex reserves increased for the second straight week after falling by $2.3 billion in the week ended May 22, indicating RBI has been a buyer of dollars in more instances than it had sold dollars in the market. In the latest bulletin, the central bank said that it bought $5.4 billion from the spot forex market in April but its forward market position fell to $5.17 billion from $8.32 billion in March. The fall in the RBI’s outstanding forward dollar position indicates that the central bank may have taken delivery of earlier dollar purchases.
The RBI has been a net buyer of dollars as inflows have been robust until April. Since May, foreign institutional investors have turned net sellers of bonds and equities. FIIs have sold $566 million worth of equities and $618 million worth of bonds between May 1 and June 11. Consequently, the central bank’s interventions have reduced in frequency from before, dealers said. The rupee, too, has weakened due to the easing of inflows. The currency ended at 64.06/$ on Friday.
Nevertheless, reserves are up $40.13 billion from a year ago and had a record quarterly accretion of $30.1 during January-March, details of the balance of payments showed.
For Updates Check Market News; follow us on Facebook and Twitter
