The value of China’s foreign-currency holdings edged up in December due to valuation effects and a possible easing of capital outflows due to a a stronger yuan.

Reserves climbed to $3.1079 trillion from $3.0956 trillion in November, the People’s Bank of China said Tuesday.

The reading is slightly lower than the median estimate of $3.11 trillion in a Bloomberg survey of economists

“Capital outflow pressures may have eased a bit in December, as the yuan appreciated by 0.9% at end-December versus end-November,” Wang Tao, chief China economist at UBS Group AG. in Hong Kong, wrote before the data was released. “We estimate December’s valuation effect from reserve currencies’ movement at a gain of $15-20 billion,” as the dollar weakened against other reserve currencies and boosted the value of assets denominated in euro and yen, she wrote.

“China’s foreign exchange market was stable, international payments were balanced,” the State Administration for Foreign Exchange, which manages the reserves, said in a statement, adding that sound economic growth will support an overall stable reserves stockpile.