Currencies

Central bankers spend their careers worrying about risks that most investors ignore. In 2024, they bought a record 1,045 tons of gold as insurance against globally swelling sovereign debt loads and growing geopolitical fractures. Those same issues might even be leading a few outliers to consider another hedge asset: Bitcoin (BTC -1.99%). What sounded foolish a decade ago now ticks three boxes every reserve manager studies -- specifically, the asset's limited supply, its round-the-clock liquidity, and its (partial) insulation from certain geopolitical risks. If gold hoards are a vote of...

India's foreign exchange reserves have surged, showing a notable increase of USD 2.294 billion, bringing the total to USD 698.950 billion as of the week ending June 13, according to official figures from the Reserve Bank of India.During the recent monetary policy meeting, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra assured that this significant forex reserve is sufficient to cover 11 months of imports and approximately 96% of India's external debt. The reserves are approaching the all-time high mark of USD 704.89 billion recorded in September 2024.RBI data highlights that the foreign...

There is a buzz around bitcoin. The world’s oldest and best-known cryptocurrency is trading close to record highs as enthusiastic investors bet on greater political and regulatory support from Donald Trump’s administration.The digital currency has climbed by more than 50 per cent since Trump’s election victory in November and has wiped out all the losses sustained when the US president threatened potentially damaging trade policies in April. Its increase of 20 per cent-plus since his tariff “liberation day” has outperformed gold and US stocks. Even war in the Middle East...

A recent report by the European Central Bank reveals that gold has overtaken the Euro as the second-highest foreign exchange reserve asset for the central banks. Well, this should not shock any of us. Gold has drawn a lot of attention from central banks in the past many years. It was only a matter of time before central bankers preferred gold to at least some of the paper currencies. Having said that, this is still a very surprising development. And it actually means a lot! You see, the dollar’s share...

BENGALURU: The Thai baht weakened on Friday and was set for its biggest weekly drop in four months as political uncertainty weighed on already fragile sentiment, while other regional currencies were also headed for weekly losses on Middle East tensions. The baht fell 0.4% in its fifth session of losses and was on course to log its worst week since late February. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was facing the prospect of losing her government’s majority as the United Thai Nation party, a vital coalition partner, looked set to demand her...

New Delhi, A fugitive with a 12-year-old Interpol red notice against him and wanted by the National Investigation Agency in connection with a fake currency racket was extradited by the UAE on Friday in an operation coordinated by the CBI, officials said. Fugitive wanted in 12-year-old fake currency case extradited by UAE Moideenabba Ummer Beary, wanted by the NIA's Kochi unit, was brought to Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport from Dubai by flight No. AI-920 on Friday after the completion of extradition proceedings in the UAE on Thursday, they...

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday arrested an accused in the 2013 Kasaragod fake currency case after securing his extradition from the UAE, where he had been in the custody of the local authorities since 2015.Moideenabha Ummer Beary, who was wanted in four cases, was taken into custody by the NIA team on his arrival at the Mumbai airport from Dubai on Friday. He was subsequently taken to Kochi and produced before the NIA Special Court, Ernakulam.The NIA had secured the revocation of the accused’s Indian passport and had also got...

More than 12 years after he went underground, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday arrested a key accused in the 2013 Kasaragod fake currency cases from the Mumbai airport, following his extradition from the United Arab Emirates. The accused, Moideenabha Ummer Beary alias Moideen, had been in the custody of UAE authorities since 2015 and was handed over to Indian officials after the completion of a simplified extradition process. He was wanted in connection with four cases registered by the NIA in 2013 following the seizure of fake Indian...

India's foreign exchange reserves are back on the rise—and they're inching closer to the $700 billion milestone once again. According to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday (June 20), forex reserves jumped by $2.294 billion to reach $698.95 billion for the week ended June 13.This follows a strong $5.17 billion increase in the previous week ended June 6, taking the reserves up from $691.48 billion to $696.65 billion. India's reserves are now just $6 billion shy of their all-time high of $704.885 billion, recorded at...

New Delhi, Jun 20 (PTI) A fugitive with a 12-year-old Interpol red notice against him and wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with a fake-currency racket was deported by the UAE on Friday in an operation coordinated by the CBI, officials said. Moideenabba Ummer Beary, wanted by the NIA’s Kochi unit, was brought to Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport from Dubai by flight number AI-920, they said. “The subject was earlier geo-located in UAE through close follow up by CBI through Interpol with NCB-Abu Dhabi,” a...