Foreign securities invested by South Korea's financial institutions grew in the first quarter due to rises in the share price of major investment destinations, the central bank said Wednesday.

Foreign currency-denominated securities held by domestic financial institutions reached an outstanding 62.18 billion U.S. dollars as of the end of March, up 4.26 billion dollars from three months earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The first-quarter increase came as the mark-to-market valuation of foreign stocks increased amid gains in share prices of major investment destinations. Stocks in China advanced 2.9 percent during the January-March period, with those for Brazil, India, Hong Kong and the United States jumping 13.7 percent, 12.6 percent, 11.5 percent and 8.1 percent respectively.

Investment in overseas stocks expanded 2.38 billion dollars on- quarter to 29.48 billion dollars as of end-March. The growth was mainly attributed to an increase in the mark-to-market valuations of foreign stock-type mutual funds run by asset managers, the BOK said.

Investment in foreign bonds increased 0.84 billion dollars on- quarter to 14.18 billion dollars in the first quarter, while the Korea Paper investment grew 1.04 billion dollars to 18.52 billion dollars. The increase was attributed to a growth in overseas bond buying and a rise in the mark-to-market valuations.

The Korean Paper refers to foreign currency-denominated securities sold overseas by the South Korean government, financial institutions and companies.