BEIJING: China's foreign exchange reserves unexpectedly fell in January as the dollar gained, official data showed on Monday.

The country's foreign exchange reserves - the world's largest - fell $28.53 billion to $3.22 trillion last month, compared with $3.26 trillion forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts and $3.25 trillion in December.

The yuan fell 0.09% against the dollar in January, while the dollar rose 1.03% in January against a basket of other major currencies.

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

The value of China's gold reserves fell to $112.46 billion at the end of January from $113.13 billion at the end-December.