SEOUL, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign exchange reserves fell for the second straight month due to foreign exchange market stabilization measures, central bank data showed Wednesday.

People walk on the street around the Seomun Market in Daegu, South Korea, March 17, 2020. (Photo: Xinhua)

Foreign currency reserves retreated 2.15 billion U.S. dollars from a month earlier to 425.91 billion dollars at the end of January, after reducing 2.60 billion dollars in the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The successive reduction came as the BOK allowed the National Pension Service (NPS) through the FX swap contract to borrow the dollar funds from the central bank's foreign reserves instead of buying them in the spot market.

The FX swap agreement helped mitigate upward pressure on the South Korean won versus U.S. dollar exchange rate by absorbing massive dollar demand from the NPS's overseas investment.

The country's foreign reserves were composed of 377.52 billion dollars of securities, 23.32 billion dollars of deposits, 15.89 billion dollars of special drawing rights, 4.79 billion dollars of gold bullion and 4.38 billion dollars of the IMF position.

The Asian country ranked as the world's ninth-largest holder of foreign reserves at the end of December last year, unchanged from a month earlier.