Hong Kong's foreign-currency reserve assets amounted to US$136.3 billion at the end of February, US$2.6 billion higher than January, the Monetary Authority says.

Including unsettled forward contracts, Hong Kong's foreign-currency reserve assets at the end of February also stood at US$136.3 billion. The figure for the end of January was US$133.7 billion.

Hong Kong is the world's eighth-largest holder of foreign-currency reserves, after the Mainland, Japan, Russia, Taiwan, Korea, India and Singapore.

The total foreign-currency reserve assets of US$136.3 billion represent over six times the currency in circulation, or about 37% of Hong Kong dollar M3.