Rupee recovers from 5-mth low

The rupee reversed losses on Friday and rose from a five-month low due to dollar sale by banks and exporters. There are speculation that exporters repatriated earnings to benefit from the currency's slide to a five-month low.

The rupee ended at 61.15 versus the US dollar compared to the previous close of 61.23. During intra-day trades the rupee had touched a low of 61.74. The Indian currency had ended at 61.76 on March 5. On Friday, the rupee had opened at 61.61 a dollar.

"The rupee recovered due to the Reserve Bank of India's presence through state-run banks. There were also dollar sale by exporters," said Sandeep Gonsalves, forex consultant and dealer, Mecklai & Mecklai.

Forex nears all-time high
Continuing with the rising trend for the eight consecutive week, the country's foreign exchange kitty surged $2.714 billion to $320.564 billion on a healthy increase in the core currency assets.

With this jump, the total reserves are just shy of the all-time high of $321 billion achieved in late 2011. The overall reserves had surged $813.2 million to $317.85 billion in the previous reporting week.

Foreign currency assets (FCAs) rose $2.73 billion to $293.78 billion for the week ended July 25, 2014, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its weekly statement here on Friday.

FCAs, expressed in dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of the non-US currencies such as the euro, pound and yen held in reserves.

The gold reserves were unchanged at $20.634 billion in the reporting week.

The special drawing rights were down $13.6 million to $4.437 billion, and the country's reserve position with the IMF also dipped $5.3 million to $1.707 billion during the week, the central bank said.