S.Korea's foreign reserves fall in February on strong USD

SEOUL, March 6 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign reserves fell last month as the strong U.S. dollar reduced the conversion value of non-dollar assets, central bank data showed Wednesday.

Foreign reserves amounted to 404.7 billion U.S. dollars as of end-February, down 0.84 billion dollars from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It ended the record-breaking trend, which continued for three months through January, as the strong dollar lowered the conversion value of non-dollar assets.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's value versus six major peers such as the euro and the British pound, advanced 0.8 percent in February from the previous month.

The European single currency fell 1 percent to the dollar, and the Japanese yen shrank 1.7 percent against the dollar. The Australian dollar retreated 1.4 percent versus the greenback.

The country's foreign reserves were composed of 379.1 billion dollars of securities, 15.2 billion dollars of deposits, 4.8 billion dollars of gold bullion, 3.4 billion dollars of special drawing rights and 2.2 billion dollars of IMF positions.

South Korea was the world's eighth-largest holder of foreign reserves as of end-January.