SEOUL, July 03 (AJP) -South Korea's foreign exchange reserves rose slightly in June, helped by a stronger dollar, but its global ranking slipped one notch, reflecting the cost of defending a stubbornly weak won, central bank data showed Friday.
The country's foreign exchange reserves stood at $427.36 billion at the end of June, up $370 million from $426.99 billion in May, when the coffers shrank by $880 million, according to the Bank of Korea.
The U.S.. dollar averaged at 1,491.26 won in May and 1,521.4 won, the highest in nearly three decades, to suggest continued pressure for policymakers to defend the local currency.
The BOK said reserves edged higher as foreign currency deposits by financial institutions increased, offsetting market stabilization measures, including foreign exchange swap transactions with the National Pension Service.
Securities accounted for the largest share of the reserves at $380.34 billion, or 89.0 percent of the total.
Deposits stood at $22.27 billion, or 5.2 percent, while Special Drawing Rights totaled $15.64 billion, or 3.7 percent.
Gold holdings were unchanged at $4.79 billion, while the country's reserve position at the International Monetary Fund stood at $4.31 billion.
Compared with the previous month, deposits increased by $920 million, while securities declined by $330 million. SDR holdings and the IMF reserve position fell by $140 million and $90 million, respectively.
South Korea's global ranking slipped to 13th as of the end of May, the latest month available for international comparison.
The country ranked 12th a month earlier, but Singapore moved ahead with $430.1 billion in reserves, compared with South Korea's $427.0 billion at the end of May.
China remained the world's largest holder of foreign exchange reserves with $3.4422 trillion, followed by Japan with $1.3059 trillion and Switzerland with $1.0767 trillion. Russia ranked fourth with $747.4 billion, while India came fifth with $686.3 billion.
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