China forex reserves cross US$3 trillion

Beijing

CHINA'S foreign exchange reserves unexpectedly rose for the first time in eight months in February, rebounding above US$3 trillion as a regulatory crackdown and a steadying yuan helped staunch capital outflows.

The rebound in reserves could ease fears in global markets that China will engineer another sharp one-off devaluation of the yuan, which would run the risk of inflaming trade tensions with the new US administration under President Donald Trump.

Reserves rose US$6.92 billion during February to total US$3.005 trillion, their first increase since June 2016, central bank data showed. That compared with a drop of US$12.3 billion in January, w…