(Bloomberg) -- India’s foreign exchange pile decreased for a fifth straight week, indicating the central bank has likely been intervening in the market to battle weakness in the rupee.
Reserves slumped by $2.675 billion to $682.13 billion in the week through Nov. 1, the longest streak of declines since last September.
The rupee has come under pressure as foreign investors sold a record amount of Indian stocks last month, wary of elevated valuations and of a possible slowdown in economic growth. The currency touched a record low of 84.3750 against the dollar Friday, with the Reserve Bank of India focused on limiting the size of moves in both directions rather than targeting a particular level.
“We are not bystanders, we are there very much in the market,” RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said at an event in Mumbai on Wednesday.
The Indian rupee weakened 0.4% against the dollar this week, compared to a 0.3% drop in the Bloomberg Asia Dollar Index. The MSCI Emerging Markets Currency Index is set to close the week 0.1% lower, having gained as much as 0.4% and dropped as much as 0.8% in the last five trading sessions.
--With assistance from Anup Roy.
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