S. Korea's foreign reserves fall for 3 straight months on strong dollar

South Korea's foreign reserves fell for three months in a row as the U.S. dollar's ascent to peers reduced the conversion value of non-dollar assets, central bank data showed on Wednesday.

Foreign reserves reached 371.1 billion dollars as of end-December, down 0.88 billion dollars from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The foreign currency assets, owned by the BOK, kept a downward momentum for the third consecutive month as the dollar appreciated on the expected U.S. interest rate hikes. The strong dollar reduced the conversion value of non-dollar assets.

The U.S. Federal Reserve indicated three rate hikes this year, after raising its benchmark rate by 25 basis points in December.

The foreign reserves were composed of 342.2 billion dollars in securities holdings, 18.37 billion dollars in deposits, 4.79 billion dollars in global bullion, 2.88 billion dollars of special drawing rights and 1.73 billion dollars of IMF positions.

As of the end of November, South Korea was the eight largest holder of foreign reserves, following China, Japan, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia and Russia. Endit