Forex reserves rise by $940mn
Mumbai: Forex reserves increased by $940 million to touch $166.482 billion for the week ended September 22, according to the Reserve Bank of India's Weekly Statistical Supplement. In the earlier week, the reserves had stood at $165.542 billion. The week saw good dollar inflows into the domestic bourses, explaining the rise in reserves, said the head of treasury at a private sector bank.

According to RBI data, foreign currency assets increased by $936 million to touch $159.175 billion during the week. Foreign currency assets expressed in US dollars include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of non-US currencies (such as euro, sterling, yen) held in reserves.

FII inflows into equities came to $311.3 million. Gold reserves and SDRs were unchanged at $6.538 billion and $1 million respectively.
Back to News Review index page  

Rupee flat
Mumbai: The rupee remained flat on Friday having opened at 45.93/94 and closed at the same level, slightly lower than Thursday's close of 45.92. The day's high was 45.93 and the low was 46.

Forwards: Forwards did not see much activity. The six-month premium ended at 1.29 per cent (1.26 per cent) and the one-year premium at 1.33 per cent (1.32 per cent).

Bonds: Bond prices fell on Friday by around 10 paise on profit booking ahead of the half yearly closing on September 30. The total traded volume on the order-matching system was Rs2,260.

G-secs: The 7.59 per cent-10 year-2016 paper opened at Rs99.70 (7.63 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs99.66 (7.64 per cent YTM) against Rs99.77 (7.62 per cent YTM). The 8.07 per cent-10 year-2017 paper opened at Rs102.60 (7.697 per cent YTM) and closed at Rs102.67 (7.69 per cent YTM).

Call rates: Call closed sharply higher at 7.40-7.60 per cent (6.40-6.50 per cent).

Reverse repo: In the first four-day reverse repo auction under LAF, the Reserve Bank of India received and accepted three bids amounting to Rs1,175 crore and four bids for Rs1,220 crore in the repo auction (7 per cent). In the second four-day reverse-repo auction, there were 17 bids for Rs5,750 crore and 10 bids for Rs3,790 crore in the repo auction. All the bids were accepted.
Back to News Review index page  

External debt rises
Mumbai: India's external debt increased by $6.9 billion at the end of June 2006 over the March 2006 figure to touch $ 132.1 billion with the largest contribution emanating from the ECB segment.
The external commercial borrowings (ECBs) rose by $5.4 billion during the quarter, highlighting a strong domestic investment activity, the latest figures released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revealed.

All components of external debt except rupee debt rose during the quarter. The increase is also partly attributed to the decline in the stock of ECBs at end-March 2006. While gross disbursements under ECBs were high during FY06, net disbursements had remained low on account of principal repayment of India Millennium Deposits (IMDs), the RBI said.
Back to News Review index page