SEOUL, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign reserves fell in January due to one-off factors such as the authorities' intervention to stabilize the foreign exchange market, central bank data showed Wednesday.

Foreign currency reserves declined 4.59 billion U.S. dollars from a month earlier to 411.01 billion dollars at the end of January, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

The downturn was attributed to one-off factors such as the authorities' measures to mitigate volatility in the foreign exchange market, the expanded FX swaps with the national pension fund, and the lower foreign currency deposits by financial companies.

The dollar index, which gauges the dollar value versus six major peers, retreated 0.3 percent in January, raising the conversion value of non-dollar assets.

The country's foreign reserves were composed of 362.02 billion dollars of securities, 25.29 billion dollars of deposits, 14.72 billion dollars of special drawing rights, 4.79 billion dollars of gold bullion, and 4.19 billion dollars of the IMF position.

South Korea was ranked as the world's ninth-largest holder of foreign reserves at the end of December, unchanged from a month earlier. Enditem

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