Data published by the People's Bank of China showed that China's foreign exchange reserves declined moderately last month, breaking a four-month rise, which was due to the strengthening of the US currency against a basket of major currencies.
According to the report, foreign exchange reserves amounted to 3,133 trillion US dollars compared to 3,184 trillion US dollars in January. Experts expected a reduction in reserves to 3.16 trillion US dollars.
By the end of February, the Chinese currency fell by 2.6% against the US dollar. Meanwhile, the US Dollar Currency Index (DXY), which tracks the dynamics of the dollar against six currencies (euro, Swiss franc, yen, Canadian dollar, pound sterling and Swedish krona), rose 2.8% amid expectations of continued tightening of the Fed's monetary policy to curb inflation.
The data also showed that China's gold reserves increased by 0.8 million troy ounces compared to January, to 65.92 million troy ounces. However, the value of gold reserves fell to 120.28 billion US dollars from 125.28 billion US dollars at the end of January.