SEOUL, April 3 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign reserves marked the first rebound in three months in March due to increased investment income that offset lower conversion value of non-U.S. dollar assets, central bank data showed Wednesday.
Foreign currency reserves advanced 3.51 billion U.S. dollars from a month earlier to 419.25 billion dollars at the end of March, after sliding for the past two months, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The strong dollar reduced the conversion value of non-dollar assets, but investment income expanded amid higher foreign currency deposits from financial institutions.
The dollar index, which gauges the dollar value versus six major peers, gained 0.5 percent last month.
The country's foreign reserves were composed of 364.89 billion dollars of securities, 30.53 billion dollars of deposits, 14.70 billion dollars of special drawing rights, 4.79 billion dollars of gold bullion and 4.33 billion dollars of the IMF position.
South Korea ranked as the world's ninth-largest holder of foreign reserves at the end of February, unchanged from the previous month. ■