SEOUL, July 5 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign currency reserves kept a record-breaking momentum for the second consecutive month due to a continued return on foreign currency assets and a higher conversion value of non-U.S. dollar assets, central bank data showed Wednesday.
The foreign reserves reached a record high of 380.57 billion U.S. dollars as of end-June, topping 380 billion dollars for the first time, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It was up 2.11 billion dollars from a month earlier, maintaining a record-breaking trend for the second consecutive month. For the first six months of this year, the foreign reserves increased by 9.47 billion dollars.
The continued increase was attributable to a continued return on foreign currency assets and a higher conversion value of non-dollar assets such as the European currency and the British pound.
The euro appreciated 2.4 percent versus the dollar last month, with the pound advancing 1.6 percent against the greenback.
The country's foreign reserves were composed of 352.26 billion dollars of securities holdings, 18.76 billion dollars of deposits, 4.79 billion dollars of gold bullion, 3 billion dollars of special drawing rights and 1.75 billion dollars of IMF positions.
As of end-May, South Korea was the ninth-largest holder of foreign reserves.
