Tokyo  - Japan's foreign reserves fell in April for the first time in 11 months due to declining market prices of gold and US Treasury bonds, the Finance Ministry said Friday.

The nation's April foreign reserves amounted to 1 trillion dollars at the end of April, down 11.75 billion dollars from the month before.

Gold prices and US Treasury bonds affected the value of such assets held by Japan, as well as the euro's decline against the US dollar, which also led to losses in euro-denominated assets.

Japan's foreign reserves hit a record 1.02 trillion dollars at the end of March.

The nation held 858.76 billion dollars in foreign securities, foreign currency deposits came to 118.75 billion dollars.

Japan had 6.03 billion dollars of the deposits in foreign central banks and the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements, 26.28 billion dollars in Japanese banks and 86.44 billion dollars in foreign financial institutions.

Gold reserves amounted to 21.43 billion dollars.

Japan held 1.38 billion dollars in IMF reserve positions and 3.14 billion dollars in IMF special drawing rights.

Japan's foreign exchange reserves consist mainly of securities and deposits denominated in foreign currencies, International Monetary Fund reserve positions, IMF special drawing rights and gold. (dpa)