BEIJING: China's foreign currency reserves rose more than expected in November, helped by the yuan's recent rally, official data showed on Monday, as the economy continues to recover from the coronavirus shock.

The country's foreign exchange reserves, the largest in the world, stood at $3.178 trillion, compared with $3.150 trillion forecast by a Reuters poll of analysts and $3.128 trillion in October.

The US dollar index fell 2.3% in November as investors switched to riskier assets on optimism over a faster global recovery as COVID-19 vaccinations are rolled out.

The Chinese yuan rose 1.7% against the dollar last month.

Foreign inflows into Chinese stocks and bonds have also been strong as China leads the global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

China held 62.64 million fine troy ounces of gold at the end of November, unchanged from October.

The value of the gold reserves fell to $110.41 billion at the end of November from $117.89 billion at end-October.