Japan's foreign-exchange reserves hit a new record for the fifth month in a row at the end of August, rising $2.98 billion from a month earlier to $456.07 billion, the Finance Ministry said Friday.
The increase was partly due to the rise in prices of Japan's foreign bond holdings, a ministry official said, without specifying which bonds they were.
According to the report, Japan remained the largest holder of foreign reserves of any country or territory for the 33rd consecutive month.
The foreign-exchange reserves consist of securities and deposits denominated in foreign currencies plus International Monetary Fund reserve positions, IMF special drawing rights and gold.
The previous record was $453.09 billion at the end of July, which followed $446.2 billion at the end of June.
According to the report, Japan had $371.76 billion in foreign securities in August, up from $369.66 billion in July, and $67.23 billion in foreign currency deposits, up from $66.52 billion.
Of the deposits, $8.83 billion were at foreign central banks and the Switzerland-based Bank for International Settlements, $33.23 billion at Japanese banks and $25.18 billion at foreign banks.
Japan had $7.7 billion in gold, up from $7.5 billion in July. It had $6.95 billion in IMF reserve positions and $2.44 billion in SDRs.