1st LD-Writethru: China's forex reserves up for 10th straight month

BEIJING, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- China's forex reserves rose for the 10th month in a row to 3.1193 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of November, data from the central bank showed Thursday.

This marks an increase of more than 10 billion dollars from a month earlier, according to the People's Bank of China.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) attributed the continued increase to stronger non-dollar currencies and fluctuations in asset prices, as cross-border capital flows and transactions remained steady.

The yuan exchange rate composite index released by China Foreign Exchange Trade System, which measures the yuan's strength relative to a basket of 24 currencies including the dollar, euro and Japanese yen, fell 0.56 percent at the end of November from a month earlier.

There had been concerns over capital flowing out of China in the second half of 2016, when the economy was under pressure and the yuan was in the middle of a losing streak against the U.S. dollar.

In January, China's foreign exchange reserves fell below 3 trillion U.S. dollars, but as the economy is on a firmer footing and the yuan continues to stabilize, the stockpile has increased steadily since February.

China's strong economic momentum and structural adjustment has kept cross-border capital flows more stable and balanced, said the SAFE.

"The steady international balance of payments supported the gradual rebound in forex reserves," it said in a statement.

Looking ahead, the regulator said the Chinese economy is in an increasingly firm condition to maintain the good momentum, while further reform in interest rates and foreign exchange markets will lay a more solid foundation for the country's forex reserves to keep stable.

China's economy expanded 6.9 percent year on year in the first three quarters, above the government target of 6.5 percent for 2017.

Monday's data also showed that the country's gold reserves rose to 75.83 billion dollars by the end of November, up from 75.24 billion dollars at the end of October. Enditem