South Korea's foreign reserves decreased by nearly four billion dollars in March due to the appreciation of the U.S. dollar.

According to the Bank of Korea on Tuesday, the nation's foreign currency reserves totaled 457-point-81 billion U.S. dollars as of the end of last month, down three-point-96 billion dollars from a month earlier.

The figure is hovering around 460 billion dollars after hitting a record high of 469-point-21 billion dollars in October last year.

The central bank said the reserves declined last month due to a fall in the value of non-dollar assets when converted into the greenback and market stabilization measures.

As of the end of February, South Korea was the world's eighth largest holder of foreign exchange reserves.

China topped the list at over three-point-two trillion dollars, followed by Japan, Switzerland, India and Russia.