South Korea’s foreign reserves stay flat

South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves stayed almost flat in March from the previous month as higher investment profits overshadowed the lower dollar conversion value of non-dollar assets, the central bank said Wednesday. The country’s foreign reserves reached US$327.41 billion in March, up $10 million from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The FX reserves reached $327.4 billion last month, the first fall in nine months after hitting a record high of $328.91 billion in January. Foreign reserves consist of securities and deposits denominated in overseas currencies, along with International Monetary Fund reserve positions, special drawing rights and gold bullion. The BOK said that the central bank logged higher management profits last month, but a stronger U.S. dollar lowered the conversion value of non-dollar assets. Last month, the euro declined 2.4 percent to the U.S. dollar from a month earlier while the yen depreciated 2.1 percent per greenback. But the British pound inched up 0.2 percent versus the dollar. In February, the BOK bought 20 tons of gold, raising the central bank’s gold holdings to 104.4 tons valued at $4.79 billion. As of the end of February, South Korea was the world’s seventh-largest holder of foreign exchange reserves.