BEIJING, Jan 19 (Reuters) - A $453 billion increase last year in China's foreign exchange reserves partly reflected currency valuation effects and was not due to inflows of funds from speculators, China's currency regulator said on Tuesday.
The State Administration of Foreign Exchange, in a statement on its website, reaffirmed its longstanding policy to push forward convertibility of the yuan for capital account transactions and to give individuals and institutions more opportunities to invest abroad. (Reporting by Zhou Xin, Langi Chiang and Alan Wheatley; Editing by Benjamin Kang Lim and Ken Wills)