China's forex reserves continue to grow in December

China's foreign exchange (forex) reserves grew in December, following a mild rebound a month ago, according to official data Monday.

The forex reserves came in at 3.0727 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of December, up from 3.0617 trillion dollars in November, according the People's Bank of China.

December's increase, 0.4 percent month on month, was slightly higher than the market estimate of 3.07 trillion U.S. dollars. The country's forex reserves had been on a losing streak since August.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) attributed the rising reserves to factors including stronger non-dollar denominated currencies, price spikes of treasury bonds of major countries, and asset price changes.

"Despite small fluctuations, forex reserves largely remained stable in 2018," said Wang Chunying, SAFE spokesperson and chief economist, citing healthy economic development, a stable yuan and balanced cross-border capital flows.

China will keep stable forex reserves and balanced international balance of payments in 2019, as an economy with great resilience and potential will fend off external impact and market volatility, Wang said.

Gold reserves rose to 59.56 million ounces in December from 59.24 million ounces the previous month, the first uptick since October 2016, according to the central bank.