RBI sold net $8.9 billion in April, gold holdings unchanged

The RBI sold a net 8.9 billion dollars in the forex market in April, slightly lower than the 9.8 billion dollars net sale in March, as it intervened aggressively to defend the rupee which had slumped to a record low of 96.96 per dollar. Gold holdings were unchanged at 880.52 metric tonnes though their value dropped from 120.23 billion dollars to 112.6 billion dollars. India's forex reserves declined to a more than one-year low of 671.6 billion dollars, while net outstanding forward dollar sales stood at 95.30 billion dollars by end-April.