Barring China which reports its holdings quarterly, Asia's reserves slumped by $2.2 billion to $1.87 trillion in November, data published by central banks shows.

If China's holdings were taken into account, Asia's reserves probably rose in November because China's trade and current account surpluses would have forced the central bank to buy dollars, analysts said.

Malaysia's reserves dropped by $4 billion to $73.1 billion in November, the second straight month of decline, as investors were discouraged by a meagre appreciation in the ringgit.

The ringgit has gained 0.6 percent to about 3.7785 per dollar since the country abandoned a dollar peg on July 21. Funds had poured into Malaysian bonds since 2004 on expectation the currency would be allowed to rise by as much as 10 percent.

Japan's reserves the world's biggest, rose for the firsts time in three months increasing by about $1.5 billion to $843.3 billion, as foreign investors poured money into local stocks.

South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia also reported gains in reserves in November. Reserve holdings declined slightly in the rest of Asia.

China last published reserves figures for the end of September totaling $769 billion.

Including China's end-September reserves, Asia's total holdings would be $2.64 trillion, a rise of $194 billion this year. China's reserves rose by $159 billion in the first nine months of the year.

More than half of Asia's reserves are now parked in US dollar assets, most of them in US treasury bills.