South Korea's foreign currency reserves hit a new monthly high last month, rising for the fifth consecutive month, central bank data showed Friday.

Foreign reserves amounted to 402.45 billion U.S. dollars as of end-July, up 2.15 billion dollars from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It broke the previous record high tallied in the previous month due to an increased investment return of the foreign currency reserves. The U.S. dollar appreciated to its major peers, raising the conversion value of non-dollar assets.

The European single currency gained 1.3 percent versus the greenback, with the British pound rising 0.5 percent to the dollar. The Japanese yen depreciated 0.4 percent against the U.S. currency.

The country's foreign reserves were composed of 374.91 billion dollars of securities, 17.27 billion dollars of deposits, 4.79 billion dollars of gold bullion, 3.55 billion dollars of special drawing rights and 1.92 billion dollars of IMF positions.

South Korea was the ninth largest holder of foreign reserves in the world, unchanged from the prior month.