S. Korea's FX reserves climb to 3-month high in May

SEOUL, June 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's foreign exchange (FX) reserves jumped to a three-month high in May, helped by the weakening of the U.S. dollar, central bank data showed Wednesday.

The country's FX reserves came to US$407.3 billion as of the end of last month, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The reading marks a $3.33 billion increase from April, and the highest since $409.17 billion tallied at end-February.

The BOK said the increase "is partly attributed to the U.S. dollar's weakness that drove up the value of other currencies when converted into the U.S. greenback."

At end-May, each euro fetched $1.107, up 2.3 percent from about $1.082 a month earlier, it added.

South Korea's FX reserves are the world's ninth-largest.

FX reserves held in foreign securities stood at $365.71 billion at end-May, up $4.2 billion from a month before, while those held in savings came to $30.01 billion, down $1.21 billion over the cited period.

FX reserves include special drawing rights, International Monetary Fund (IMF) reserve position and gold bullion.

The country's special drawing rights dipped $450 million to $2.8 billion, while its IMF reserve position added $790 million to $3.99 billion.

Its gold holdings remained unchanged at $4.79 billion.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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