(LEAD) BOK says S. Korea's foreign reserves adequate

(ATTN: UPDATES with reports of foreign investors continuing their selling streak in the South Korean stock market in last 2 paras)

SEOUL, Jan. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's central bank said Thursday the country has enough foreign reserves to deal with any sudden changes in the global financial market.

The state-run Korea Economic Research Institute pointed out the country's foreign reserves may not be adequate enough to deal with a crisis, while a Japanese daily also cited the lack of current assets as a potential problem.

"The country has most of its foreign reserves invested in assets that are very safe and highly liquid," the Bank of Korea (BOK) said in a press release.

As of the end of last year, the country's foreign currency reserves came to US$367.96 billion. Also, the country was the world's sixth-largest holder of foreign reserves as of end-November, the BOK said earlier.

Of the total, some 94 percent or $345 billion were held in foreign securities, including overseas bonds.

The central bank said most of the securities were from leading global companies that are highly stable, meaning the assets could easily be exchanged for cash should a need arise.

Concerns over a possible shortage of foreign reserves followed a recent outflow of foreign capital prompted by a U.S. rate hike, the first of its kind in nearly a decade.

Foreign investors have remained net sellers of South Korean shares for 34 consecutive sessions since Dec. 2, the longest selling streak ever, offloading nearly 6 trillion won ($4.12 billion) over the cited period.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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