MUMBAI, Feb 24 Reuters India39;s foreign exchange reserves fell for the third straight week to hit an elevenweek low of 561.27 billion as of the week ended Feb. 17, the Reserve Bank of India39;s RBI statistical supplement showed on Friday.

The reserves fell by 5.68 billion at the end of last week, data showed.

The reserves stood at 566.95 billion in the week to Feb. 10, down 8.3 billion from the previous week.

The central bank intervenes in the spot and forwards market to prevent exchange rate volatility. The RBI has said in the past that changes in reserves also stem from valuation gains or losses.

Earlier this week, Reuters had reported that the RBI was intervening in both the offshore and onshore markets to shield the rupee from the fallout of investors lifting their expectations on the U.S. Federal Reserve39;s terminal rate.

Last week, the rupee fell 0.4 against the dollar, logging its fourth consecutive weekly decline, but outperformed its Asian peers. The local currency traded in a thin range of 82.5750 to 82.8975 last week.

The rupee was little changed against the dollar this week, and ended at 82.75.

Reporting by Siddhi Nayak; Editing by Savio D39;Souza

Source Reuters