Forex kitty continues to scale new peaks, touches $414.78 bn: RBI data

Gold reserves remained unchanged at $20.421 bn

The rally in the foreign exchange reserves continued for the fourth week in a row, and scaled a new peak at $414.784 billion in the week to January 19, helped by rise in foreign currency assets, according to the Reserve Bank data.

The central bank data showed that the reserves rose by $959.1 million to touch during the reporting week.

In the previous week, the reserves had touched $413.825 billion after it rose by $2.7 billion.

The reserves had crossed the $400-billion mark for the first time in the week to September 8, 2017 but has since been fluctuating. But for the past four weeks it have been on a continuous rally.

In the reporting week, foreign currency assets, a major component of the overall reserves, rose by $934.6 million to $390.768 billion, the RBI said.

Expressed in US dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of the non-US currencies such as the euro, the pound and the yen held in the reserves.

Gold reserves remained unchanged at $20.421 billion, the central bank said.

The country's special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund rose by $10.4 million to $1.531 billion, while the country's reserve position with the Fund also jumped by $14.1 million to $2.06 billion during the reporting week, the central bank said.