S Korea posts record-high foreign exchange reserves in Jan.

South Korea's official foreign reserves as of end-January 2010 stood at a record high on the back of operating profits and the redemptions at maturity by the National Pension Service (NPS), the central bank said Tuesday.

According to the Bank of Korea (BOK), South Korea's foreign reserves as of end-January amounted to 273.69 billion U.S. dollars, up 3.70 billion dollars from the 269.99 billion dollars total at the end of the preceding month.

The January figure broke the record set in November, 2009, when the foreign reserves posted 270.89 billion U.S. dollars.

The increase was attributable to operating profits on the foreign reserves and the redemptions at maturity by the National Pension Service of its currency swaps with the BOK, which more than offset a decline in the U.S. dollar translation values of euro-denominated reserves.

The BOK added that South Korea's official foreign reserves consist of 238.91 billion U.S. dollars of securities, 30.00 billion U.S. dollars of deposits, 3.72 billion U.S. dollars of Special Drawing Rights, 0.98 billion U.S. dollars of its IMF reserve position, and 0.08 billion U.S. dollars of gold.

Source: Xinhua