Foreign exchange reserves at $578.45 bn, snaps 2-week rise, shows RBI data

India's foreign exchange reserves retreated from more than eight-month highs to $578.45 billion as of the week ended March 31, the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) statistical supplement showed on Friday.
 

That is a decrease of around $380 million from the previous week.
 

The central bank intervenes in the spot and forwards markets to prevent runaway moves in the rupee which affects the overall reserves position while changes also stem from valuation gains or losses.
 

A comfortable level of foreign exchange reserves will further bolster macroeconomic stability, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said while announcing the bank's monetary policy decision on Thursday.
 

The rupee moved in an orderly manner in 2022 and continues to do so in 2023, Das said.
 

In the week for which the forex reserves data pertains, the rupee ended 0.38% higher against the dollar, having traded in a range of 82.08 to 82.4250 to the dollar.
 

In the current holiday-shortened week, the rupee strengthened past 82 per dollar for the first time since mid-March to end at 81.8850 on Thursday.