SEOUL, May 7 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign exchange reserves rebounded last month due to higher conversion value of non-U.S.-dollar assets and investment gains, central bank data showed Thursday.
Foreign currency reserves increased 4.22 billion U.S. dollars from a month earlier to 427.88 billion dollars at the end of April, after reducing 3.97 billion dollars in the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The turnaround was attributed to an expansion in value of non-dollar assets and investment returns that offset the effect of foreign exchange market stabilization measures.
The BOK allowed the National Pension Service (NPS) through the FX swap contract to borrow the dollar funds from the central bank's foreign reserves instead of buying them in the spot market.
The FX swap deal helped mitigate upward pressure on the South Korean won versus the U.S. dollar exchange rate by absorbing massive dollar demand from the NPS's overseas investment.
The country's foreign reserves were composed of 384.07 billion dollars of securities, 18.76 billion dollars of deposits, 15.81 billion dollars of special drawing rights, 4.79 billion dollars of gold bullion and 4.45 billion dollars of the IMF position.
The Asian country ranked as the world's 12th-largest holder of foreign reserves at the end of March, unchanged from a month earlier. ■
