Posted: Thursday , 02 Aug 2012
Increased volatility in the global financial markets and falling confidence in the U.S. dollar have persuaded central banks to diversify their foreign reserves away from the U.S. currency and government debt securities.
Central banks became net gold buyers in 2010 for the first time in two decades and have remained buyers since, with an easing of prices this year helping the cause to accumulate more of the safe-haven reserve asset.
South Korea is Asia's fourth-largest economy and its foreign reserves of more than $300 billion ranked the seventh in the world and were equivalent to about 30 percent of its annual gross domestic product.
Gold accounted for 0.9 percent of the value of South Korea's total foreign reserves at the end of July, up from 0.7 percent a month earlier, the central bank said. The total book value of its gold holdings was at $3.0 billion, it added.
The South Korean central bank said it now ranked 40th in the world in gold holdings at the end of July, up from 43rd in June.
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