Stock market climbs to record high ahead of RBI MPC meet
At the close, the Sensex ended 350.81 points, or 0.47% higher at 74,227.63 while the Nifty 80 points or 0.36% at 22,514.70.
India’s foreign exchange reserves during the week that ended on November 18 rose by USD 2.54 billion to USD 547.25 billion, the Reserve Bank of India data showed on Friday.
During the week that ended on November 11, the country’s forex reserves were at USD 544.71 billion, data showed. According to RBI’s latest data, India’s foreign currency assets, which are the biggest component of the forex reserves, rose by USD 1.76 billion to USD 484.28 billion.
Barring the past two odd weeks, the forex reserves have been falling for months now because of RBI’s intervention in the market to defend the depreciating rupee against a surging US dollar. Also, rising costs of imported items also necessitated the higher requirement of reserves for trade settlement.
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The Indian rupee has been weakening over the past few weeks to hit fresh new all-time lows as the US dollar strengthened against major global currencies.
Typically, the RBI intervenes in the market through liquidity management, including through the selling of dollars, with a view to preventing a steep depreciation in the rupee.
India’s forex reserves had declined sharply ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February when imports of energy and other commodities got costlier globally.
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