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India's foreign exchange reserves rose by $4.5 billion and stood at $674.66 billion as of Aug. 16, but were just shy of record highs, data from the Reserve Bank of India showed on Friday. The forex reserves had fallen by $4.8 billion in the previous week, the biggest decline in four months. The reserves had reached a record high of $674.92 billion in the week to Aug. 2.

Changes in foreign currency assets are caused by the RBI's intervention as well as the appreciation or depreciation of foreign assets held in the reserves.

Foreign exchange reserves also include India's reserve tranche position in the International Monetary Fund.

In the week ending Aug. 16, the rupee was flat on a week-on-week basis.

The RBI has routinely intervened via state-run banks to help the rupee hold above the 84-handle, a psychologically important support level for the currency, traders said.

The rupee settled at 83.89 on Friday and strengthened marginally week-on-week. [INR/]

FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES (in million U.S. dollars)

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Aug 16 Aug 09

2024 2024

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Foreign currency assets 591,569 587,960

Gold 60,104 59,239

SDRs 18,341 18,282

Reserve Tranche Position 4,650 4,638

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Total 674,664 670,119

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Source text: (https://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/BS_PressReleaseDisplay.aspx)