BEIJING - China's foreign exchange reserves fell less than expected in February, official data showed on Sunday, due to valuation effects.

The country's foreign exchange reserves, the world's largest, fell $5.677 billion to $3.205 trillion last month, compared with $3.200 trillion tipped in a Reuters poll of analysts and $3.211 trillion in January.

Foreign inflows into Chinese stocks and bonds have been strong as China gallops ahead of other major economies in its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The yuan fell 0.59% against the dollar in February, while the dollar rose 0.43% last month against a basket of other major currencies.

China held 62.64 million fine troy ounces of gold at the end of February, unchanged from levels at the end of January.

The value of China's gold reserves fell to $109.18 billion at the end of February from $116.76 billion at the end of January.

(Reporting by Hallie Gu, Yingzhi Yang, and Ryan Woo; Editing by William Mallard & Simon Cameron-Moore) ((Hallie.Gu@thomsonreuters.com; +86 10 56692120; Reuters Messaging: hallie.gu.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))