Korea's FX reserves climbs to new record high in Jan.

SEOUL, Feb. 5 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's foreign exchange (FX) reserves again reached a new record high last month, largely on an increase in gains from investing the excess funds, central bank data showed Wednesday.

The country's FX reserves came to US$409.65 billion as of end-January, up $840 million from a month earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The amount marks the world's ninth largest.

Foreign exchange reserves consist of foreign securities, special drawing rights, gold bullion and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reserve position.

The increase came despite a drop in the U.S. dollar value of reserves held in other foreign currencies.

"It stems largely from an increase in earnings from operating the foreign exchange assets," the BOK said.

As of end-January, South Korea held $378.45 billion worth of foreign securities, down $6.58 billion from a month earlier.

Its savings, on the other hand, jumped $7.44 billion to $20.29 billion over the cited period.

Its special drawing rights slightly dropped to $3.34 billion from $3.35 billion, while its gold holdings remained unchanged at $4.79 billion.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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