U.K. RESERVES SHOW UNDERLYING RISE IN FEBRUARY

  Britain's gold and currency reserves
  showed an underlying rise of 287 mln dlrs in February, after a
  72 mln dlrs rise in January, the Treasury said.
      The underlying trend, which is a guide to Bank of England
  operations to support the pound on foreign exchanges, is net of
  borrowings and repayments.
      This was above market expectations for a 100 mln dlrs rise.
      The Treasury said the Bank of England used the opportunity
  of strong demand to rebuild reserves after losses last autumn
  and said the underlying rise was still relatively modest.
      Actual reserves rose by 305 mln dlrs in February to 22.26
  billion dlrs, after rising 29 mln in January to 21.95 billion.
      Accruals of borrowings under the exchange cover scheme were
  36 mln dlrs last month, after 163 mln in January, while
  repayments were 16 mln dlrs after the previous 151 mln, a
  Treasury spokesman said.
      Capital repayments totalled two mln dlrs. In January,
  capital repayments totalled 14 mln dlrs, with a valuation
  change that resulted in a fall of 41 mln dlrs due to the
  quarterly rollover from the European Monetary Cooperation Fund
  swap.
      The Treasury would not comment on the Bank of England's
  market operations, but currency traders reported moderate Bank
  of England intervention to curb upward pressure on the pound
  today.
      A Treasury spokesman, commenting on the reserves figures,
  said that the government does not want sterling either to rise
  too far or to fall substantially from current levels.
      He noted that the Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson
  stressed this after the recent Paris currencies meeting.
  

