MUMBAI, Dec 8 Reuters India39;s foreign exchange reserves rose for a third straight week and stood at a more than fourmonth high of 604.04 billion as of Dec. 1, data from the Reserve Bank of India RBI showed on Friday.

The reserves rose by 6.1 billion in the reporting week, the highest gain since the week ended July 14. Reserves had risen by a total of 7.6 billion in the prior two weeks.

Changes in foreign currency assets are caused by the RBI39;s intervention as well as the appreciation or depreciation of foreign assets held in the reserves.

Foreign exchange reserves include India39;s reserve tranche position in the International Monetary Fund.

India39;s foreign exchange reserves are providing a cushion against external shocks, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said earlier in the day, while announcing the monetary policy decision.

We remain confident of meeting our external financing requirements comfortably, Das said.

For the week the forex reserves data pertains, the rupee traded in a narrow range of 83.2475 to 83.3950 against the dollar and logged marginal weekly gains.

The currency settled at 83.3850 on Friday, down 0.1 for the week.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES in million U.S. dollars

Dec 01 Nov 24

2023 2023

Foreign currency assets 533,610 528,531

Gold 47,329 46,338

SDRs 18,250 18,218

Reserve Tranche Position 4,853 4,848

Total 604,042 597,935

Reporting by Siddhi Nayak; Editing by Sohini Goswami

Source Reuters