China's newly-added foreign exchange reserves since 2003 have lost about $271.1 billion by the end of 2010 as a result of the depreciation of the US dollar, said a senior analyst with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) .

And the country is likely to lose $578.6 billion if the US currency's exchange rate slips to six yuan a dollar, Securities Daily quoted Zhang Anyuan, head of the fiscal and financial policy research division of the NDRC's Institute of Economic Research, as saying on Thursday.

While making attempts to further diversify the allocation of its US$3 trillion foreign exchange reserve, China remains the largest foreign holder of US securities by June 30, 2010, a recent survey released by U.S Department of the Treasury shows.

China's foreign reserves had increased by $197 billion to more than $3 trillion for the first timeBy the end of March, an increase of 24 percent from a year ago, despite the first quarterly trade deficit in seven years during that same period.

China, the biggest buyer of US treasury, cut its holdings for a fourth straight month in February to $1.15 trillion, according to data released by the US Treasury Department, while its total foreign exchange holdings increased by 0.5 percent to $4.47 trillion during the same period.