Indian shares closed marginally lower on Friday as global sentiment was subdued following comments by some U.S. Federal Reserve officials, although gains in individual stocks such as State Bank of India supported indexes.

 

 

The BSE Sensex closed down 0.17 percent at 28,077.00, ending the week about 0.3 percent lower.

 

The broader NSE Nifty fell 0.07 percent to 8,666.90, closing lower for the second consecutive week.

 

The Nifty Bank index touched a 17-month high, with State Bank of India gaining 4.1 percent.

 

Country’s forex exchange reserves surged by $ 73.2 million to touch a life-time high of $ 365.82 billion in the week to August 12, helped by increase in foreign currency assets, the Reserve Bank said today.

 

In the previous week, the reserves had increased by $ 253.6 million to touch $ 365.75 billion.

 

Foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major component of the overall reserves increased by $ 81.6 million to $ 340.36 billion.

FCAs, expressed in dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation/depreciation of non-US currencies such as euro, pound and yen held in the reserves.