South Korea's foreign reserves go up

Seoul, April 3 (IANS) South Korea's foreign reserves grew to a record high of $315.95 billion last month as a reduction in conversion value of non-dollar denominated assets was offset by an increase in investment profits, the central bank said Tuesday.

Foreign reserves reached a new high of $315.95 billion as of the end of March, up $0.15 billion from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The March figure surpassed the previous record high for two straight months after the February reserves exceeded the prior high of $312.29 billion tallied in August 2011. The reserves breached the $300 billion mark for the first time in April last year, reported Xinhua.

The BOK attributed the March growth to an increase in investment profits that outweighed a reduction in conversion value of non-dollar denominated assets such as Europe's shared currency and the Japanese yen.

The country's foreign reserves consisted of $284.59 billion of securities, $22.99 billion of deposits, $3.54 billion of special drawing right (SDR), $2.66 billion of International Monetary Fund (IMF) positions and $2.17 billion of gold bullion.