Exchange Fund total assets amounted to $1.063 trillion in March, $19.5 billion lower than in February. Foreign currency assets and HK dollar assets fell $12.4 billion and $7.1 billion respectively.

The fall in foreign currency assets was mainly due to a decrease in securities purchased but settled in the following month, which was partly offset by valuation gains on foreign currency investments and income from foreign currency assets.

The fall in HK dollar assets was mainly due to fiscal drawdowns and valuation losses in the market value of local equities held by the Exchange Fund, which were partly offset by an increase in bank borrowings.

The Monetary Base stood at $322.3 billion, a dip of $0.9 billion, or 0.27%, from February. The drop was mainly due to a decrease in Certificates of Indebtedness of $0.7 billion.

The Backing Assets also fell $100 million, or 0.04%, to $353.7 billion. This was mainly driven by the corresponding fall in Certificates of Indebtedness, which was partly offset by income from investments and revaluation gains.

Reflecting this, the backing ratio went up from 109.51% in February to 109.76% in March.