UPDATE 1-Japan FX reserves edge down as U.S. yields rise
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TOKYO, May 9 (Reuters) - Japan's foreign reserves stood at $1.004 trillion at the end of April, down slightly from a record high hit a month earlier, partly because higher U.S. yields cut the value of U.S. bonds held in the stockpile.
It was the first monthly fall in nearly a year, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said on Friday. [JPRES=ECI]
At the end of March, Japan's reserves, the world's second largest after China, had been a record high of $1.016 trillion.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note US10TY=RR rose to 3.732 percent at the end of April from 3.413 percent at the end of March, according to finance ministry data.
A MOF official told reporters that the euro's fall against the dollar reduced the value of euro-denominated bonds in the reserves. Lower gold prices also pushed down the reserves in doller terms, he added.
The ministry said the euro EUR= fell to $1.5622 at the end of April from $1.5788 at the end of March, while prices of gold XAU= fell to $871.0 an ounce from $993.5 an ounce.
The ministry does not disclose the currency breakdown of Japan's international reserves, but most is in U.S. dollars as past intervention has taken the form of dollar buying.
Japan's reserves ballooned after yen-selling intervention worth a record 20 trillion yen ($193 billion) in 2003 and a further 15 trillion yen in the first three months of 2004, as the government waged a campaign to prevent a rapid rise in the yen from derailing Japan's then-fragile economic recovery.
Tokyo has stayed out of the market since then. JAPAN OFFICIAL RESERVE ASSETS (in billion dollars)
END-APRIL END-MAR YEAR-AGO TOTAL 1,003.836 1,015.587 915.623 To view the full tables, go to the website of the Ministry of Finance here ($1=103.75 Yen) (Reporting by Yoko Nishikawa; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
