ROK's foreign reserves expand to $315.8b

SEOUL - South Korea's foreign reserves expanded to a fresh record high of $315.8 billion last month due to a rise in conversion value of non-dollar denominated assets and an increase in investment profits, the central bank said Monday.

Foreign reserves reached a new high of 315.8 billion dollars as of the end of February, up 4.46 billion dollars from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The February figure surpassed the previous record high of 312.29 billion dollars tallied in August 2011. The country's foreign reserves exceeded the 300 billion dollar mark for the first time in April last year.

The BOK attributed the February growth to rising conversion value of non-dollar denominated assets such as the Europe's shared currency and the British pound as well as an increase in investment profits.

The country's foreign reserves consisted of 289.5 billion dollars of securities, 179.7 billion dollars of deposits, 3.56 billion dollars of special drawing right (SDR), 2.6 billion dollars of International Monetary Fund (IMF) positions and 2.17 billion dollars of gold bullion. As of the end of January, South Korea was the world's seventh-largest holder of foreign reserves following China, Japan, Russia, China's Taiwan, Brazil and Switzerland.