At the end of April, the Exchange Fund's total assets were valued at $1.05 trillion, $16.8 billion lower than the previous month, the Monetary Authority says.

Both foreign currency assets and Hong Kong dollar assets decreased, by $13.6 billion and $3.2 billion.

The decrease in foreign currency assets was mainly due to valuation losses on foreign currency investments which was partly offset by an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness and income from foreign currency assets. 

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

The Currency Board Account shows that the Monetary Base at the end of April 2004 was $323.5 billion, an increase of $1.2 billion, or 0.4%, from the end of March 2004. 

The rise was mainly due to an increase of $2.3 billion in Certificates of Indebtedness which was partly offset by a decrease of $1.3 billion in the market value of Exchange Fund Bills and Notes outstanding.

The Backing Assets increased by $2.1 billion, or 0.6%, to $355.9 billion. 

The increase was mainly driven by the corresponding increase in Certificates of Indebtedness in the Monetary Base.