Forex Reserves at Record $1.01 trln in Japan
Japanese foreign exchange reserves rose to a new absolute maximum value last month — almost $1.01 trillion. A $11.9 billion change is attributed to the growth of the euro against the dollar, which was significant in February.
Reported by the Ministry of Finance Japan country’s reserves remain among the highest in the world — only China possesses bigger foreign exchange reserves in their U.S. dollar value.
February’s gain was a second straight record setting for Japan’s reserves this year after a gain of $22.7 billion in January.
The euro rose from 1.4861 to 1.5179 in February increasing the value of the euro-denominated foreign assets by 2.1% solely through the Forex rates change.
Japan’s foreign currency reserves are closely watched by the investors as an important indicator of the global financial markets. When the reserves increase rapidly it’s considered to be a sign of elevated volatility, when the assets are transfered to less risky Japan. When reserves decrease — it’s considered to be a sign of the government’s currency intervention to hold down the yen’s appreciation.
March 7th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Yes it is great to holda high reseve but it the currency it hold is the USD which is depreciating at a very fast level. Japan needs to diversify its reserve in order to have the Yen more stabl.