S. Korea's foreign reserves hit new high in Aug

SEOUL - South Korea's foreign currency reserves hit a new high last month due to a rise in conversion value of non-dollar assets and a growth in investment returns, a report by the central bank showed Wednesday.

Foreign reserves reached $316.88 billion as of the end of August, up $2.53 billion from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The August figure breached the previous record high of $316.84 billion tallied in April. The reserves stayed above the $300 billion mark since April 2011 when it topped the level for the first time.

The $300 billion mark is viewed as the psychologically- important level to protect the local financial market from potential foreign capital exodus from the country that may come from a possible financial crisis.

The BOK attributed the August growth to a rise in non-dollar denominated assets and a gain in investment returns. The European single currency appreciated 2.0 percent against the US dollar last month, while the British pound's ascent versus the greenback reached 0.5 percent during the month.

The country's foreign reserves consisted of $291.33 billion of securities, $16.19 billion of deposits, $3.49 billion of special drawing rights (SDR), $2.89 billion of International Monetary Fund (IMF) positions and $2.98 billion of gold bullion.

As of the end of July, South Korea was the world's seventh- largest holder of foreign reserves following China, Japan, Russia, Switzerland, China's Taiwan and Brazil.