Central Bank reduces holdings in U.S. dollars and pounds in Q4 2013
MOSCOW. Aug 22 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia reduced its holdings of assets denominated in yen, U.S. dollars and pounds sterling in favor of those denominated in euro and Australian dollars in Q4 2013, the bank said on its website.
The dollar's share in forex assets edged down to 45.4% in Q4 2013 from 45.5% in Q3 2013. The share in pounds declined to 9.2% from 9.3%. The share in yen was virtually unchanged at 0.1%.
The euro's share rose to 41.1% from 41.0%. The share in Australian dollars rose to 1.1% from 0.9%. The share in Canadian dollars was unchanged at 3.2%.
In geographical terms, the share attributable to France amounted to 31.1% in Q4 2013 (compared with 32% in Q3 2013), U.S. - 30.6% (30.8%), Germany - 19.0% (19.1%), UK - 9.3% (9.2%), Canada - 3.2% (3.0%), Australia - (1.5% (0.8%), and Sweden and Russia 1% (0.9%).
The highest yields were on assets denominated in Australian and Canadian dollars: 2.85% and 1.20% respectively. The lowest yields were on euro- and yen-denominated assets: 0.04% and 0.08% respectively.
The Central Bank delays publication of data concerning management of foreign exchange assets for at least six months owing to global financial market sensitivity to operations by major players.
