S.Korea's foreign reserves hit record high at 398.42 bln USD

SEOUL, May 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign reserves hit a fresh record high in April, reaching nearly 400 billion U.S. dollars on the continued investment income, central bank data showed Friday.

Foreign currency reserves amounted to a record high of 398.42 billion dollars as of end-April, up 1.67 billion dollars from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The record-breaking trend continued for two months in a row owing to an increased investment income that offset a fall in the conversation value of non-dollar assets amid the strong dollar.

The European single currency shrank 1.5 percent versus the dollar, with the British pound depreciating 1.9 percent to the greenback. The Japanese yen and the Australian dollar fell 2.4 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.

The country's foreign reserves were composed of 370.15 billion dollars of securities, 18.48 billion dollars of deposits, 4.79 billion dollars of gold bullion, 3.39 billion dollars of special drawing rights and 1.61 billion dollars of IMF positions.

As of end-March, South Korea was the ninth-largest holder of foreign reserves, unchanged from the previous month. Enditem