Foreign currency deposits in S. Korea fall in Sept. on overseas investment: BOK

Seoul, Oct 29 (IANS) Foreign currency deposits in South Korea declined in September on increased overseas investments by pension funds and corporate payments for trade settlements, central bank data showed on Wednesday.

Outstanding foreign currency-denominated deposits held by residents came to $107.09 billion as of end-September, down $550 million from a month earlier, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK), reports Yonhap news agency.

Residents include South Korean citizens, foreigners who have lived in the country for more than six months, and foreign companies. The data excludes interbank deposits.

Corporate foreign currency deposits fell $700 million on-month to $92.26 billion, while individual holdings edged up by $150 million to $14.83 billion.

By currency, U.S. dollar-denominated deposits dropped $240 million to $90.72 billion, and Japanese yen deposits declined $150 million to $8.89 billion. Euro deposits slipped $120 million to $5.01 billion.

But Chinese yuan deposits grew $60 million to $1.19 billion.

"Dollar-denominated deposits declined mainly due to a decrease in investors' margin deposits at securities firms, overseas investments by pension funds and corporate payments for trade settlements," a BOK official said.

Meanwhile, South Korean stocks extended gains late Wednesday morning, led mostly by chipmakers and other tech companies. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index had gained 56.77 points, or 1.42 per cent, to 4,067.18.

Top tech giant Samsung Electronics rose 1.11 per cent, and SK hynix added 4.22 per cent. Top search engine operator Naver jumped 5.73 per cent, and Kakao gained 8.01 per cent.

Steelmakers traded higher as well, with POSCO Holdings rising 0.62 per cent and Korea Zinc climbing 8.28 per cent. The local currency was trading at 1,433.8 won against the greenback as of 11:20 a.m., up 3.9 won from the previous session's close.

--IANS

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