Pakistan's forex reserves fall to $12.611 bln

KARACHI, May 2 (Reuters) - Pakistan's foreign reserves fell by $41 million to $12.611 billion in the week that ended on April 26, the central bank said on Friday.

Reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan fell to $10.367 billion from $10.447 billion a week earlier, while those held by commercial banks rose to $2.244 billion from $2.204 billion.

Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves hit an all-time high of $16.486 billion on Oct. 31. 2007, but then fell sharply, partly because of outflows from the stock market after President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule on Nov. 3.

The emergency was lifted on Dec. 15, but foreign investors remained cautious after the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Dec. 27.

On Friday, the rupee PKR=PK closed at a record low of 64.90/95 to the dollar, breaching the previous closing low of 64.66/70 on April 25. See [ID:nISL94596].

(Reporting by Sahar Ahmed)