The Exchange Fund's total assets decreased 9.7 billion HK dollars (about 1.25 billion U.S. dollars) on February, amounting to 2.8861 trillion HK dollars at the end of March, the Monetary Authority of Hong Kong announced Tuesday.

Foreign currency assets saw a 5.2 billion HK dollars increase while Hong Kong dollar assets saw a 14.9 billion HK dollars decrease.

The rise in foreign currency assets was mainly due to valuation gains on foreign currency investments. The decline in Hong Kong dollar assets was mainly due to fiscal drawdowns and valuation losses on Hong Kong equities.

The Currency Board Account showed that the Monetary Base at the end of March was 1.2423 trillion HK dollars, an increase of 9.6 billion HK dollars, or 0.78 percent on February. The rise was mainly due to an increase in Certificates of Indebtedness.

Backing Assets rose 11.1 billion HK dollars, or 0.83 percent, to 1.3429 trillion HK dollars. The increase was mainly attributable to the issuance of Certificates of Indebtedness and exchange gain as the U.S. dollar strengthened. The backing ratio increased to 108.1 percent at the end of March. (1 U.S. dollar = 7.75 HK dollars) Endi

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