SEOUL: South Korea’s foreign reserves marked the first fall in three months last month owing to a lower conversion value of non-US dollar assets, central bank data showed Monday.

Foreign currency reserves came to $420.98 billion at the end of May, down $5.70 billion from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea.

It turned downward in three months as the strong dollar decreased the conversion value of non-dollar assets.

The dollar index, which gauges the dollar value versus six major peers, advanced 2.6 percent last month.

The country’s foreign reserves were composed of $378.96 billion of securities, $17.82 billion of deposits, $14.71 billion of special drawing rights, $4.79 billion of gold bullion and $4.69 billion of the International Monetary Fund position.

South Korea was the world’s ninth-largest holder of foreign reserves at the end of April, unchanged from a month earlier.