Forex reserves break record again

Japan's foreign exchange reserves jumped by $4.17 billion to a record $1.057 trillion in October after gold and the euro surged, the Finance Ministry said Monday.

The reserves, the world's second-largest after China's, have broken records for three consecutive months.

Japan's reserves consist mainly of securities and deposits denominated in foreign currencies, gold, and reserve positions and special drawing rights at the International Monetary Fund.

The ministry also released data on asset management yields in the foreign exchange fund special account for fiscal 2009. They stood at 3.69 percent, down from the previous fiscal year's 4.32 percent, which were calculated in yen terms.

In addition to the yen's rise against the dollar, the fall stemmed from a drop in U.S. interest rates, the ministry said.

Other annual data released included foreign currency securities by period of maturity. For the year ended last March, 23.3 percent of securities in foreign currencies had maturity terms of one year or shorter, while 51.0 percent had terms of between more than one year and five years and the rest more than five years.