Total assets of the Exchange Fund amounted to $1.604 trillion on March 31, a rise of $94.7 billion on February, with foreign-currency assets up $96.7 billion and Hong Kong dollar assets down $2 billion.

The Monetary Authority today said the rise in foreign-currency assets was due mainly to valuation gains on foreign-currency investments and purchases of foreign currencies with Hong Kong dollars. 

The fall in Hong Kong-dollar assets was due mainly to fiscal drawdowns and sale of Hong Kong dollars for foreign currencies. These decreases were substantially offset by increases in the balance of the banking system, bank borrowings and placement by Hong Kong statutory bodies.

The monetary base at the end of March was $570 billion, a rise of $40.4 billion, or 7.6%, from the end of February. The rise was due mainly to an increase in the aggregate balance.