China Forex Reserves Rise for Eighth Straight Month

China's foreign-exchange reserves rose for an eighth straight month in September, official data showed Monday.

The reserves increased by $16.98 billion from the previous month to $3.109 trillion, the highest level since October 2016, the People's Bank of China said. Last month's increase followed a gain of $10.81 billion in August.

China's heightened scrutiny on capital movements has helped to reduce outflows, while a stronger yuan against the dollar this year has reduced Beijing's need to use foreign reserves to prop up the local currency.

Policy makers last month scrapped a rule that made it more expensive for traders to bet against the yuan after the currency hit a 17-month high earlier in September, a sign that they were more comfortable about letting it move more freely. The yuan ended September weaker against the dollar compared with the start of the month.

China has the largest forex reserves in the world.

--Liyan Qi

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 09, 2017 04:50 ET (08:50 GMT)