BEIJING - China's foreign exchange reserves edged up 0.27 percent from a month earlier to $3.1428 trillion at the end of March, the People's Bank of China said Sunday.

The increase reversed a slight decline seen in February. Previously, the forex reserves gained for 12 consecutive months between February 2017 and January 2018.

"The foreign exchange market continued to see generally balanced supply and demand," the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a statement.

The administration mainly attributed the slight increase to the global financial market's rising effort to avert risk, the appreciation of some major currencies against the US dollar, as well as asset price changes.

"The yuan's exchange rate against the dollar has continued two-way fluctuations and remained basically stable, and the foundation for generally balanced cross-border capital flow has become stronger," SAFE said, citing sound growth, better economic structure and higher growth quality in China.

Looking into the future, SAFE sees the forex reserves stockpile holding steady, after taking into consideration both domestic and external factors, including volatility and uncertainties in the global financial market.

According to PBOC data, China's gold reserves remained unchanged in March at 59.24 million ounces, with a higher value of $78.42 billion, up from $78.06 billion in February.