BEIJING, Jan 7 — China’s foreign exchange reserves rose slightly more than expected in December after Beijing and Washington agreed to resume trade talks, boosting the yuan currency against the dollar.

China’s reserves rose by US$11 billion in December to US$3.073 trillion, central bank data showed today. That compared with a increase of US$9 billion in November.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected reserves to rise US$8 billion to US$3.07 trillion.

The yuan rose 1.3 per cent against the dollar in December.

For all of 2018, reserves fell US$67.24 billion as the yuan came under selling pressure from weakening Chinese economic growth and the escalating Sino-US trade war.

The value of China’s gold reserves rose to US$76.331 billion from US$72.122 billion at the end of November. — Reuters