Foreign currency deposits in South Korea kept rising for three months to September as the local currency's ascent to the U.S. dollar discouraged deposit holders from selling the dollar funds, central bank data showed Friday.

Deposits, denominated in foreign currencies, reached 73.63 billion U.S. dollars as of end-September, up 2.32 billion dollars from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The foreign currency deposits continued to rise for three months amid the decline of the won/dollar exchange rate, which fell to 1,109.3 won per dollar as of end-September from 1,112.9 won tallied a month earlier.

Deposit holders refrained from selling the dollar funds as they tend to wait for the strong dollar.

The dollar-denominated deposit increased 1.14 billion dollars over the month to 61.25 billion dollars at the end of September.

The Chinese yuan deposit rose 220 million dollars to 1.67 billion dollars, and the Japanese yen deposit added 780 million dollars to 5.34 billion dollars.

Deposit denominated in the European single currency grew 150 million dollars to 3.51 billion dollars in the period.