Tokyo  - Japan's foreign reserves exceeded 1 trillion dollars in March, thanks to gains in the appraisal values of its US Treasury bond holdings and euro-denominated assets, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.

The nation's foreign reserves totaled 1.02 trillion dollars, up from 9.2 billion dollars in the previous month.

Japan held 905.53 billion dollars in foreign securities as of March 31 while its foreign currency deposits amounted to 84.2 billion dollars.

The nation had 7.43 billion dollars of those deposits in foreign central banks and the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements, 20.9 billion dollars in Japanese banks and 55.88 billion dollars in foreign financial institutions.

Gold reserves totaled 22.55 billion dollars.

Japan had 2.95 billion dollars in International Monetary Fund (IMF) reserve positions and 2.95 billion dollars in IMF special drawing rights.

Other reserve assets came to 366 million dollars.

Japan was the world's second-largest holder of foreign reserves after China, according to IMF data.

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