S. Korea's foreign reserves rebound in February

SEOUL, March 5 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign exchange reserves rebounded in three months thanks to the issuance of foreign exchange stabilization bonds and robust investment returns, central bank data showed Thursday.

Foreign currency reserves mounted 1.72 billion U.S. dollars from a month earlier to 427.62 billion dollars at the end of February, after falling for the past two months, according to the Bank of Korea.

The turnaround was attributed to solid investment gains and new issuance of foreign exchange stabilization bonds, which are sold by the government to raise funds for the purpose of stabilizing exchange rates.

The country's foreign reserves were composed of 379.96 billion dollars of securities, 22.49 billion dollars of deposits, 15.77 billion dollars of special drawing rights, 4.79 billion dollars of gold bullion and 4.61 billion dollars of the IMF position.

The Asian country ranked as the world's 10th-largest holder of foreign reserves at the end of January, slipping one spot from a month earlier. Enditem