Mumbai, Oct 23 (IANS): India's foreign exchange reserves surged by $5.27 billion to $317.50 billion for the week ended Oct 14, one of the sharpest rise in recent months, on the back of huge gain in the value of foreign currency assets, official data showed.

This is the second straight weekly gain in the country's foreign reserve kitty. The reserves had increased by $749 million in the previous week.

Foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves kitty, shot up by $5.19 billion to $281.65 billion during the week under review, according to the weekly statistical supplement of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The RBI does not provide any reason for the change in the foreign currency assets. It says the assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as the pound sterling, euro and yen held in the reserves.

Analysts said one of the major reasons behind the sharp increase in the value of foreign currency assets was the strengthening of euro against the US dollar.

During the week under review, the value of euro strengthened to $1.3882 at the close of the week from $1.3642 at the beginning.

India's reserves with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) rose by $29 million to $2.63 billion.

And the value of special drawing rights (SDRs) increased by $49 million to $4.54 billion during the week under review.

However, the value of gold reserves remained unchanged at $28.66 billion.