NEW YORK, March 31 (Reuters) - The share of global foreign exchange reserves held in U.S. dollars fell to 64 percent from 64.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 as overall reserves dipped for the second consecutive quarter, IMF data showed on Tuesday.
The IMF data, which covers about two-thirds of the world's foreign exchange reserves, shows the dollar share of the $4.2 trillion of world reserves of which the composition is known fell to $2.69 trillion.
"The most important take away from the IMF's quarterly reserve report is that for the second consecutive quarter, official reserves fell in Q4 08," Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York, said in a note to clients.
Currency reserves appear to have peaked in the second quarter of 2008 near $7.01 trillion, Chandler said.
The euro's share rose to 26.5 percent in the fourth quarter from 25.6 percent in the third.
"There was widespread talk of intervention by numerous central banks, including Russia and a handful of Asian central banks to sell dollars," Chandler said.
By the end of 2008, the IMF estimates that global reserves stood at $6.71 trillion. Allocated reserves slipped to $4.21 trillion from $4.36 trillion in the third quarter and $4.43 trillion in the second quarter.
Unallocated reserves, thought to be largely China's, fell to $2.50 trillion in the fourth quarter from $2.53 trillion in the third quarter and $2.58 trillion in the second quarter.
The dollar bottomed against the Canadian dollar and British pound in November 2007 and against the Swiss franc in March 2008. But it was only early in the third quarter of 2008 that it bottomed against the euro, after which it rallied well into the fourth quarter, Chandler said.
The IMF's currency breakdowns provide only limited insight into shifts in the composition of central banks' holdings because they do not cover around one-third of the world's reserves.
That one-third includes several emerging economies such as China, which has the world's largest foreign reserves, approaching $2 trillion, and has surpassed Japan as the largest holder of U.S. government debt. (Reporting by Nick Olivari; Editing by Dan Grebler)