S.Korea's foreign reserves keep record-breaking trend for 2 months

South Korea's foreign reserves kept a record-breaking trend for two straight months due to an increase in investment return and higher value in non-dollar denominated assets, central bank data showed on Thursday.

Foreign reserves reached a new record high of 377.7 billion U.S. dollars as of end-September, up 2.31 billion dollars from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). It surpassed previous record highs for two months in a row.

The increase came as the U.S. dollar weakened versus other major currencies following the Federal Reserve's decision to freeze its benchmark interest rate last month.

The weaker dollar boosted the value of non-dollar denominated assets such as the European single currency and the Japanese yen. The euro appreciated 0.7 percent to the dollar, with the yen rising 1.8 percent versus the greenback.

Capital gains from securities transactions and interest income also contributed to the rising foreign reserves.

The foreign reserves were composed of 342.69 billion dollars in securities holdings, 25.9 billion dollars of deposits, 4.79 billion dollars of gold bullion, 2.58 billion dollars of special drawing rights and 1.8 billion dollars of International Monetary Fund (IMF) positions. Endit