Forex kitty continues to move up, closes in $449 bn mark

Foreign exchange reserves continued the upward move, gaining by a modest USD 347 million to touch a new high of USD 448.6 billion in the week to November 22, according to the weekly data released by the Reserve Bank on Friday.

In the previous week, the reserves had increased by USD 441 million to reach USD 448.249 billion.

The gain in reserves was mainly on account of an increase in foreign currency assets, a major component of the overall reserves, which rose by USD 254 million to USD 416.725 billion in the reporting week, the data showed.

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

During the reporting week, gold reserves increased marginally by USD 87 million to USD 26.796 billion.

The special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund were up by USD 5 million to USD 1.44 billion during the week.

The country's reserve position with the Fund also increased by a modest USD 2 million to USD 3.635 billion, the data showed.