Japan's foreign exchange reserves reached 996.04 billion U.S. dollars at the end of January, hitting a new record high, the Japanese Finance Ministry said Thursday.
The nation's foreign reserves rose 22.68 billion dollars from a month ago for the eighth consecutive monthly gain. The increase was largely due to the rise in gold prices and euro-denominated assets, the ministry said.
Gold prices rose to 923.25 dollars per troy ounce at the end of January from 836.50 dollars at the year-end, pushing up the appraisal value of Japan's gold holdings. The value of Japan's euro-denominated assets and U.S. Treasuries holdings was also higher, as the euro strengthened against other major currencies and U.S. long-term interest rates dropped, it said.
Japan's foreign exchange reserves, the world's second largest, consist mainly of securities and deposits denominated in foreign currencies, International Monetary Fund reserve positions, IMF special drawing rights and gold.
As of Jan. 31, Japan held 844.48 billion dollars in foreign securities and its foreign currency deposits stood at 124.00 billion dollars, the data showed.
Source: Xinhua
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