India’s forex reserves down by $163.7 million

India’s foreign exchange (forex) reserves went down by $163.7 million to $294.87 billion for the week ended Oct.12, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data shows. Forex went up by $227.3 million for the week ended Oct.5, and by $837.8 million to $294.81 billion for the week ended Sept.28. However, foreign currency assets (FCA) — the biggest component of the forex reserves — fell $150.1 billion to $260.02 billion in the week under review, according to the weekly statistical supplement released by the RBI. The FCA were up by $218.3 million to $260.17 billion for the week ended Oct.5. India’s central bank in a statement said that FCA in the US dollar terms included the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies held in reserve, such as the pound sterling, euro and yen. The value of gold reserves remained unchanged at 28.13 billion in the week ended Oct.12. The reserves had zoomed by $1.89 billion in the week ended Sept.28. The special drawing rights (SDRs) decreased by $9 million to $4.44 billion during the week under review, while reserves with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were down by $4.6 million to $2.26 billion. The SDRs had decreased by $4.45 million to $6.00 billion for the week ended Oct.5, while India’s reserves with the IMF were lower by $2.27 million to $3.00 billion in the previous week. Sensex Meanwhile the benchmark index for Indian equities markets advanced 111 points on Monday, led by good buying support in TCS and L&T on the back of better-than-expected earnings. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened marginally down at 18,655.93 points, rose to 18,793.44 points, up 0.59 per cent or 111.13 points from its previous close at 18,682.31 points. The Sensex touched a high of 18,793.44 points in the intra-day trade. The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange rose 0.58 per cent or 32.90 points to 5,717.15 points. Better-than-expected earnings of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) boosted sentiments at the Indian equities markets. The country’s largest software exporter TCS rallied 2.26 per cent to Rs1,319.50 after announcing 44 per cent jump in its quarterly profit. The share price of engineering conglomerate L&T rose 2.17 per cent to Rs1,668.20. L&T net profit surged by 42.5 per cent to Rs1,137 crore for the quarter ended Sept.30, beating market expectations. From Gulftoday