Macao's foreign exchange reserves amounted to 19.53 billion U.S. dollars at the end of March, according to the preliminarily-estimated figures released on Monday by the Monetary Authority of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR).

The reserves rose 4.3 percent from the revised value for the previous month and when compared with the same period last year, the reserves increased 16.3 percent, the Monetary Authority said.

Macao SAR's foreign exchange reserves at the end of March represented 29 times the currency in circulation.

Meanwhile, the trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca, a gauge of the domestic currency's exchange rates against the currencies of Macao's major trading partners, fell 2. 73 points year on year to 90.53 in March 2010.