South Korea’s FX reserves post biggest monthly gain in 13 on weaker dollar

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves increased in November for the first time in four months and by the largest amount in 13 months, central bank data showed on Monday, as the U.S. dollar retreated from a two-decade high scaled in October.

The country’s FX reserves stood at $416.10 billion at the end of November, up $2.09 billion from $414.01 billion a month before, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The reserves increased in November by the largest amount since October 2021. Of the 13 months since then, they fell for 10 months, hitting a more than two-year low at the end of October this year.

The central bank said the growth was due to an increase in the converted value of non-dollar assets, as the greenback weakened, offsetting declines from an FX swap programme with the state pension fund and a fall in the deposits of financial institutions.

The U.S. dollar index fell 5.1% in November, the biggest monthly drop in more than 12 years. The Korean won gained 8% during the month.

(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)