Monday, March 10, 2008

Total Forex Reserves Touched $300bn

Mumbai: The total foreign exchange reserves touched the $300 billion mark for the first time, with an accumulation for the third week in a row. For the week ended February 29, the reserves increased by $6.625 billion to reach $301.235 billion, according to the Reserve Bank of India. In the previous week, the foreign currency assets had increased by $1.754 billion to reach $294.610 billion. As per the RBI''s weekly statistical supplement, foreign currency assets raised by $6.261 billion to touch $291.250 billion.

Foreign currency assets, as expressed in dollars, include the effect of appreciation or depreciation in non-US currencies held in reserves. The total FII inflows into the equity market for the week under consideration were Rs 1,322.6 crore. Though the rupee was flat against the dollar, the euro had reached a record high of $1.5238 during the week, which also may be reflected in the value of the forex reserves. After remaining unchanged for three weeks, the gold reserves increased by $359 million to reach $9.558 billion. SDRs remained unchanged and the reserve position in the IMF increased by $5 million to touch $427 million.

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