BEIJING, April 7 (Xinhua) -- China's foreign exchange reserves shrank to 3.17 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of March from 3.205 trillion dollars at the end of February, official data showed Wednesday.
The amount fell by 35 billion dollars, or 1.09 percent, from the end of February, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).
In March, China's forex market functioned stably with supply and demand of foreign exchange basically in balance, said SAFE spokesperson Wang Chunying.
Affected by factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the development of COVID-19 vaccine and expectations of major countries' fiscal and monetary policies, the dollar index saw an increase while bond prices of major countries fell last month, Wang added.
The spokesperson attributed the decline in forex reserves to the combined effects of currency translation and changes in asset prices.
Wang, however, expects the scale of China's forex reserves to remain generally stable, despite uncertainties in the international financial market and global economic recovery amid virus-induced risks. Enditem
