KIEV, Nov. 3 - Ukraine's central bank chief said on Monday the bank had sold $1.3 billion defending the hryvnia in the past month and a half, and it will increase interventions to daily auctions to support the faltering currency, Reuters reported.

The central bank has had to draw heavily on its foreign currency reserves to defend the hryvnia. The currency has lost around 40 percent of its value against the dollar since the start of 2014 because of political upheaval, ongoing tension with Russia and a separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.