The Bank of Korea on Oct. 7 said its foreign exchange reserves reached a record-high USD 420.5 billion last month. (Yonhap News)

By Xu Aiying and Yoon Sojung

The nation's foreign reserves hit a record high last month.

The Bank of Korea on Oct. 7 said foreign currency holdings late last month reached USD 420.5 billion, up USD 1.59 billion from August. The figure thus marked its sixth straight month of increase while setting a record high for the fourth consecutive month.

By asset type, securities accounted for 90.1% of the reserves with USD 379 billion, while deposits amounted to USD 29.1 billion (6.9%) and gold USD 4.79 billion (1.1%).

Korea's special drawing right under the International Monetary Fund, or the part of a currency quota that can be withdrawn, was worth USD 4.34 billion, accounting for 1% of reserves. The country's special drawing right was valued at USD 3.18 billion (0.8%).

The central bank explained that the rise in foreign reserves was led by the issuance of foreign exchange stabilization bonds and the increased operating profit of foreign currency-denominated assets.

The country in August ranked ninth worldwide in foreign reserve amount with USD 418.96 billion.

xuaiy@korea.kr