foreign exchange reserves touched a fresh high of $655.8 billion for the second consecutive time in the week ended 7th June, central bank data showed.
The total reserves rose by $4.3 billion and were primarily driven by foreign currency assets which rose $3.7 billion to $576.3 billion. The last record high was just a week ago when the reserves touched $651.5 billion.
The rise in the foreign exchange reserves was likely driven by the RBI’s dollar purchases after the rupee appreciated last week.
“On 3rd June, RBI bought huge amounts when rupee rose to 82.945. The increase should be on that account as there is hardly any revaluation of other currencies. RBI would also have taken deliveries of certain buy positions while rolling over the sell positions”, said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head Of Treasury at Finrex Treasury Advisors.
So far this year, foreign portfolio investors deployed funds worth $7.11 billion in Indian debt ahead of the JP Morgan bond index inclusion, National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) data showed. The index inclusion will begin from 28th of this month.
The Rupee depreciated by 0.35%, closing at Rs. 83.38 a Dollar on June 7.