Japan's foreign reserves fell by a record $54 billion in September, official data showed on Friday, as global market disturbances dented the value of foreign bonds and prompted dollar-selling intervention to arrest a steep decline in the yen.

The reserves stood at $1.238 trillion at the end of September, the lowest amount since the end of March 2017, according to the Finance Ministry data.

The data on Japan's foreign reserves, the world's second largest in size after China, came a week after separate Finance Ministry figures showed Tokyo spent up to a record ¥2.8 trillion intervening in the market last month.