Hong Kong's official foreign-currency reserve assets rose to US$150.4 billion in November, up US$8.2 billion on October, mainly due to the purchase of foreign currencies with Hong Kong dollars, the Monetary Authority says.

Including unsettled forward contracts, foreign-currency reserve assets stood at US$150.6 billion in November, up US$69 billion on October.

Hong Kong is the world's ninth largest holder of foreign-currency reserves based on the latest published figures - after the Mainland, Japan, Russia, India, Taiwan, Korea, Brazil and Singapore.

The total foreign-currency reserve assets of US$150.4 billion represent more than seven times the currency in circulation, or about 31% of Hong Kong dollar M3.