Hong Kong's official foreign-currency reserve assets rose to US$159.9 billion in January, up US$7.2 billion on December, the Monetary Authority says.

Including unsettled forward contracts, foreign-currency reserve assets stood at US$159.9 billion in January.

The increase was mainly due to the purchase of foreign currencies with Hong Kong dollars and an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness, which reflected the seasonal demand for banknotes around the Lunar New Year.

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