MUMBAI: Despite heavy likely intervention in the forex market to stem the slide of the rupee, the forex reserves jumped by $4.885 billion to an all-time high of $728.494 billion during the week to February 27 primarily on the back of the improvement in the prices of gold coupled with the rupee fall.
According to the weekly statistical supplement issued by the Reserve Bank Friday, the forex reserves jumped to a new life time high of $728.494 billion, adding $4.885 billion to the kitty. The previous high was in the week to February 13 when for the first time it had crossed the $725 billion mark and closed the week at $725.727 billion.
In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had dropped $2.119 billion to $723.608 billion.
The gold reserves, which stand at a tad over 810 tonnes, rose by $4.141 billion to $131.63 billion, boosting the overall reserves. On the other hand the value appreciation of the foreign currency assets was marginal as the dollar fell and rupee remained more or less steady during the reporting week. Foreign currency assets rose by $561 million to $573.125 billion.
In the previous week, the value of gold reserves declined by $977 million to $127.489 billion.
It may be noted that in the past many months, the sharp rally in the overall forex kitty was primarily driven by the spike in the valuation of gold.
For the week to February 27, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased $561 million to $573.125 billion, the data released by the central bank showed.
Expressed in dollar terms, foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-dollar currencies such as the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.
The central bank further said the value of special drawing rights was also down by $26 million to $18.87 billion, and so was the country’s reserve position with the International Monetary Fund which also rose by $158 million to $4.87 billion in the reporting week, the data showed.