South Korea's central bank said Thursday it increased the portion of US dollar-denominated assets in its foreign exchange reserves in 2016 from a year earlier amid the greenback's strength.

The Bank of Korea said that its dollar-denominated holdings accounted for 70.3 percent of its overall foreign reserves at the end of 2016, up from 66.6 percent a year earlier.

"The BOK expanded the portion of US dollar holdings in its portfolio of foreign assets in expectation of a strong US dollar," the BOK said in its annual policy report.

The US dollar has gained strength in recent years.

Meanwhile, the BOK cut the share of assets denominated in non-dollar currencies to 29.7 percent in 2016, compared with 33.4 percent from a year earlier.

South Korea's foreign exchange reserves came to $371.1 billion at the end of 2016.

Separately, the BOK said its net profit came to 3.37 trillion won ($3.02 billion) in 2016, up from 2.71 trillion won from a year earlier. The central bank attributed the gain to a cut in costs, such as the interest paid on monetary stabilization bonds. (Yonhap)