Tokyo - Japan's foreign reserves rose to a new record in March, exceeding 1 trillion dollars, the Finance Ministry said Monday.

The nation's foreign exchange reserves, the world's second largest next to China, totaled 1.02 trillion dollars at the end of March, up 7.61 billion dollars from a month earlier.

China ranked first with 1.53 trillion dollars, and Russia followed Japan with 465.2 billion dollars.

The rise in the foreign reserves was driven by interest income from deposits and bond holdings such as US Treasuries.

Increases in the dollar-quoted value of euro-denominated assets also contributed to a rise in Europe's single currency against the dollar in the foreign exchange market, the ministry said.

Japan's foreign securities increased to 866.96 billion dollars at the end of March 31, while its foreign currency deposits fell to
120.71 billion dollars.

Japan held 6.41 billion dollars of the total deposits in foreign central banks and the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements, 26.02 billion dollars in Japanese banks and 88.28 billion dollars in foreign financial institutions.

Gold reserves came to 22.97 billion dollars.

The nation had 1.4 billion dollars in IMF reserve positions and 3.18 billion dollars in IMF special drawing rights.

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