South Korea's foreign currency reserves increased in July to 371.4 billion U.S. dollars as of end-July due to a rise in investment returns from securities transactions, central bank data showed on Wednesday. The July figure was up 1.49 billion dollars from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK), posting the first expansion in three months.
The increase came as a rise in investment returns came from securities trading and interest income. Among the foreign reserves, securities holdings advanced 1.35 billion dollars from a month earlier to 336.8 billion dollars as of end-July.
Deposits gained 0.14 billion dollars to 25.41 billion dollars, and International Monetary Fund (IMF) positions added 0. 01 billion dollars to 1.8 billion dollars. Special drawing rights, however, reduced 0.01 billion dollars to 2.54 billion dollars at the end of July, while gold bullion was unchanged at 4.79 billion dollars.
As of end-June, South Korea ranked seventh among the world's largest holders of foreign reserves, following China, Japan, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, China's Taiwan and Russia.
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