China's forex reserves rise to $3.22 trillion in May

China's foreign exchange reserves, the world's largest, rose more than expected in May, official data showed on Monday, as the US dollar weakened.

The data showed China's foreign exchange reserves rose $23.62 billion to $3.22 trillion last month, compared with $3.208 trillion seen in a Reuters poll of analysts and $3.198 trillion in April.

Foreign inflows into Chinese stocks and bonds have been strong as China gallops ahead of other major economies in its recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

The yuan rose 1.6 per cent against the dollar in May, while the dollar fell 1.6 per cent during that month against a basket of other major currencies.

China held 62.64 million fine troy ounces of gold at the end of May, unchanged from the end of April. The value of China's gold reserves rose to $119.02 billion at the end of May from $110.73 billion in the end-April.