Hong Kong's official foreign currency reserve assets rose to US$258.2 billion in February, up 1.1 billion on January, the Monetary Authority said Monday.

The total foreign currency reserve assets represent about nine times the currency in circulation or 56 percent of Hong Kong dollar M3.

Hong Kong is the world's seventh largest holder of foreign currency reserves according to the latest published figures, after the Chinese mainland, Japan, Russia, China's Taiwan, India and the Republic of Korea.