Japan's foreign reserves hit a new record for the second straight month at the end of January, rising by $8.87 billion to reach $478.59 billion, the Finance Ministry said Friday.
The increase was mainly due to yen-selling intervention against the dollar carried out several times in January and totaling $6 billion. Also affected was a rise in the euro against the dollar, which pushed up the value of Japan's euro-denominated assets in dollar terms, a ministry official said.
Japan remained the largest holder of foreign reserves of any country or territory for the 38th consecutive month, followed by China, according to the latest comparable data.
The foreign-exchange reserves consist of securities and deposits denominated in foreign currencies plus International Monetary Fund reserve positions, IMF special drawing rights and gold.
Japan had $392.29 billion in foreign securities in January, up from $387.74 billion in December, and $67.55 billion in foreign-currency deposits, down from $63.72 billion.
Of the deposits, $6.08 billion was at foreign central banks and the Swiss-based Bank for International Settlements, while $34.76 billion was at Japanese banks and $26.71 billion was at foreign banks.
Japan had $9.04 billion in gold, up from 8.54 billion in December.
It had $7.19 billion in IMF reserve positions and $2.52 billion in special drawing rights.