Futures and Commodity Market News

Sat May 17, 2008

Breaking financial news 24/7 courtesy of TradingCharts.com Inc. / TFC Commodity Charts

SEOUL, May 06, 2008 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) -- South Korea's foreign exchange reserves declined by US$3.76 billion in April from a month earlier as the government repaid maturing currency stabilization bonds the country had sold, the central bank said Tuesday.

As of the end of April, the nation's foreign reserves amounted to US$260.5 billion, compared with US$264.3 billion the previous month, the Bank of Korea said.

Foreign reserves consist of securities and deposits denominated in overseas currencies along with International Monetary Fund reserve positions, special drawing rights and gold bullion.

"Foreign reserves fell last month as the government redeemed the principal and interest of the currency stabilization bonds maturing April 15 and the dollar conversion value of non-dollar assets fell," the bank said. If the debts repayment is excluded, the country's foreign reserves fell by US$630 million in April, the bank added.

The country sells the currency bonds, the proceeds of which are used to finance currency market operations, with maturity ranging from five to 20 years.

As of the end of March, South Korea was the world's sixth-largest holder of foreign exchange reserves.

China held the world's largest foreign reserves worth US$1.53 trillion, followed by Japan with US$1.02 trillion and Russia with US$507 billion. India held the world's fourth-largest reserves with US$309.2 billion, followed by Taiwan with US$286.9 billion.

(Yonhap)

(C) 2008 Asia Pulse Pte Ltd

Please read the End User Agreement.
By accessing this page, you agree to the terms and conditions of the End User Agreement.

News provided by COMTEX