S. Korea's foreign reserves rise first in 3 months

South Korea's foreign reserves rebounded for the first time in three months on the back of an increase in investment income, central bank data showed on Monday.

Foreign reserves came to 368.11 billion U.S. dollars as of the end of September, up 0.18 billion dollars from the prior month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

After rising for five straight months to a record high of 374. 75 billion dollars in June, the reserves declined in July and August amid volatility in the foreign exchange market, but the currency reserves rebounded last month.

The rebounded was attributed to a rise in income from securities investment and foreign currency deposits.

The foreign reserves consisted of 334.34 billion dollars of securities as of the end of September, 24.08 billion dollars of deposits, 4.79 billion dollars of gold bullion, 3.46 billion dollars of special drawing rights and 1.44 billion dollars of International Monetary Fund positions.

As of end-August, South Korea ranked the world's seventh- largest holder of foreign reserves, following China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, China's Taiwan and Brazil. Endi