Forex reserves dip for fifth week to over two-month low, rupee slides to record low
New Indian ExpressMUMBAI: The foreign exchange reserves continued to fall for the fifth consecutive week to an over two-month low of $682.13 billion for the week ending November 1, dropping by $2.7 billion as the central bank continued to defend the unit which has been under continuous assault by the dollar. Since the peak it climbed in the week to September 27, when the forex kitty had crossed a record $704 billion, it has fallen by a total of $20.1 billion in the previous four weeks. Meanwhile, the rupee weakened to a record low on Friday and logged its worst weekly fall since May, pressured by sustained outflows from local stocks and expectations of a stronger dollar after Donald Trump won the US election. In the period for which the forex reserves data pertains, the rupee had briefly hit a record low of 84.0950 amid outflows from the equity and debt market.