Rupee tops 47-mark; forex reserves at $273 bn.

Mumbai: The rupee on Friday breached the psychological 47-mark after six-and-a-half months on heavy dollar outflow, but ended the day with a marginal fall of 15 paise against the American currency at 46.96/97.

The gain was aided by heavy dollar selling by exporters to meet their month-end obligations towards the later part of the trade.

However, the rise was capped amid choppy equities and the rally of the dollar against some major currencies.

India's foreign exchange reserves nosedived by a whopping $3 billion for the second consecutive week on likely intervention by the Reserve Bank in the market to support a falling rupee and also due to the depreciation of major globalcurrencies.

The reserves declined by $2.938 billion to $273.300 billion for the week ended May 14, compared to $276.238 billion in the previous week, RBI data showed.

"There was a major intervention by the RBI in the market today. That apart, the depreciation of major currencies in the basket has also contributed to the fall in reserves," a senior dealer with a state-owned bank said.

For the week ended May 7, forex reserves had dropped by a significant $3.4 billion to $276.238 billion against $279.633 billion in the previous week.

Foreign currency assets, which are the major component of the country's forex kitty, dropped by $2.876 billion to $248.597 billion during the week, compared to $251.473 billion in the previous week, the RBI said.

Foreign currency assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies, such as the euro, sterling and yen, held in the reserves, the RBI said.

Source : mynews.in