MACAO, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The preliminary estimate of Macao's foreign exchange reserves amounted to 156.9 billion patacas (19.41 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of July 2018, the special administrative region's monetary said here on Wednesday.

The Monetary Authority of Macao said the reserves increased by 2.7 percent from the revised value of 152.8 billion patacas (18.91 billion dollars) for the previous month.

It added that the SAR's foreign exchange reserves at the end of July 2018 represented 10 times the currency in circulation or 82.3 percent of pataca M2 at the end of June 2018.

The trade-weighted effective exchange rate index for the pataca rose 1.56 points month-to-month but fell 0.88 points year-on-year to 104.8 in July 2018, implying that the exchange rate of pataca grew against the currencies of Macao's major trading partners on a monthly basis but dropped on an annual basis.