China's forex gains at 9-month high

Published Aug 8, 2017

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BEIJING  - China’s foreign exchange reserves rose twice as much as expected in July to a nine-month high as tighter regulations and a weaker dollar curbed capital outflows. 

Reserves rose $24 billion (R321.44bn) in July to $3.081 trillion, compared with an increase of $3.2bn in June. 

Economists had expected foreign exchange reserves to rise $12bn. It was the first time that China’s reserves had climbed for six months in a row since June 2014, lifting them to the highest level since October last year. 

China’s foreign exchange regulator said weakness in the dollar helped push up the value of non-dollar currencies in its reserves. 

The euro gained more than 3% against the dollar last month. 

China burned through nearly $320bn of reserves last year, but the yuan still fell about 6.5% against the dollar, its biggest annual drop since 1994. 

Its forex pile, the world’s largest, fell below the closely watched $3trln level in January for the first time in nearly six years. 

-REUTERS

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