October foreign exchange reserves rebound to $443.2 billion after one month

[Financial News] Last month, South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves rose $2.6 billion from the previous month to $443.2 billion. The increase was driven by higher returns on the Bank of Korea’s foreign asset management and an increase in foreign currency deposits held by financial institutions.
According to the Bank of Korea’s report on foreign exchange reserves at the end of October, released on the 4th, reserves stood at $443.16 billion at the end of October, up $2.6 billion from the end of the previous month.
Foreign exchange reserves returned to an upward trend after one month. In September, the previous month, reserves fell by at least $1.7 billion, ending a three-month streak of increases from June through August.
In October, the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the U.S. dollar’s value against the currencies of six major countries, stood at 102.04, up 0.7% from the previous month. The pound (1.2%) strengthened against the dollar, while the euro (-1.3%) and the yen (-0.2%) weakened.
Securities held as foreign exchange reserves, including government bonds, government agency bonds and corporate bonds, fell by $3.59 billion from the previous month to $382.43 billion. Their share of total reserves also declined to 86.3%, from 87.6% at the end of the previous month.
Deposits increased substantially. At the end of October, they stood at $36.27 billion, up $6.32 billion from the previous month. Their share also rose by 1.4 percentage points from the previous month to 8.2%.
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) stood at $15.41 billion (3.5%), while the IMF position, representing claims on the IMF from subscriptions and lending, was $4.25 billion (1.0%); both were similar to the previous month.
Gold also remained at $4.79 billion (1.1%), based on its book value at the time of purchase.
[email protected] Jung Sang-gyun Reporter