South Korea's foreign reserves rebound in December

South Korea's foreign exchange reserves increased by US$500 million in December from a month earlier as a fall in international interest rates raised the value of assets in major currencies, the central bank said on Tuesday.

The FX reserves totaled $363.59 billion as of the end of December, up $17.13 billion from a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The foreign reserve holdings consisted of securities valued at $341.7 billion or 94 percent of the total, deposits of $11.9 billion (3.3 percent), $4.8 billion in gold (1.3 percent), SDRs of $3.3 billion (0.9 percent) and the country’s IMF reserve position of $1.9 billion (0.5%), the BOK said.

The country's FX reserves had decreased for the fourth straight month in November after reaching a record high of $368.03 billion in July.

The decrease was mainly attributable to a strong U.S. dollar, which reduced the conversion value of non-dollar assets, BOK officials said.

"The amount of foreign reserve holdings rose again as a fall in international interest rates increased the value of assets, such as bonds, in major currencies, despite a strong dollar," Koh Won-hong, a ranking official of the BOK's international department, said.

As of the end of November, South Korea remained at No. 7 in terms of foreign exchange reserves in the world.

China continued to top the FX reserves list with $3,887.7 billion, followed by Japan ($1,269.1 billion) and Switzerland ($526.2 billion).

Taiwan moved up one notch to fourth place with FX reserves amounting to $421.5 billion, while Russia fell to fifth place with $418.9 billion. Brazil retained the No. 6 spot with $375.4 billion. Hong Kong placed eighth ($327.9 billion), followed by India ($316.3 billion) and Singapore ($206.6 billion).

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com