Japan's foreign-exchange reserves hit a record $837.88 billion at the end of October, up $6.89 billion from a month earlier for the sixth straight month of increase, the Finance Ministry said Monday.
The reserve hit an all-time high for the third month in a row. September's reserve was $830.99 billion.
The ministry attributed the rise to higher investment returns and valuation gains on holdings of foreign bonds, mainly U.S. Treasuries, which more than offset declines in the reserves in the absence of foreign-exchange intervention.
The ministry also said a rise in the euro against the dollar helped lift values of euro-denominated assets held by the Japanese government.
Japan has stayed away from yen-selling, dollar-buying intervention since March 17 after 15 months of massive yen-selling to keep the yen from rising too fast against the dollar. A strong yen hurts Japanese exports, the main engine of the recovery.
Japan remained the largest holder of foreign reserves of any country or territory for the 59th straight month.
According to the ministry, Japan had $696.42 billion in foreign securities at the end of October, up from $688.61 billion in September.