S. Korea's foreign reserves stay at record level

South Korea's foreign reserves stayed at a record level due to the continued rise in investment returns and an increase in conversion value of non-dollar denominated assets, central bank data showed Monday.

Foreigner reserves were 328.8 billion U.S. dollars as of the end of April, up 1.39 billion dollars in the prior month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The reading neared to the record high of 328.91 billion dollars tallied in January 2013.

The BOK attributed to the April rise to an increase in conversion value of non-dollar denominated assets such as the euro. The European single currency rose 2.2 percent against the greenback in April, with the British pound gaining 1.9 percent versus the dollar.

The reserves stayed above the 300-billion-dollar mark since April 2011 when it topped the level for the first time in the country's history. The level has been viewed as the psychologically important one to protect the country from potential foreign fund exodus.

As of the end of March, South Korea was the world's seventh- largest holder of foreign reserves following China, Japan, Russia, Switzerland, China's Taiwan and Brazil.

The foreign reserves consisted of 299.45 billion dollars of securities, 18.44 billion dollars of deposits, 4.79 billion dollars of gold bullion, 3.44 billion dollars of special drawing rights (SDR) and 2.67 billion dollars of International Monetary Fund (IMF) positions.