South Korea's foreign reserves decreased for the third consecutive month in October as authorities unloaded dollars to stabilize the foreign exchange market.

According to the Bank of Korea on Thursday, the nation's foreign currency reserves totaled 414-point-01 billion dollars as of the end of last month, down two-point-76 billion dollars from a month earlier.

The reserves shrank for three straight months after rebounding in July. In September, the reserves contracted 19-point-66 billion dollars, the largest on-month decline in about 14 years since 2008.

As of the end of September, South Korea was the world's ninth-largest holder of foreign exchange reserves.

China topped the list at over three trillion dollars, followed by Japan, Switzerland, Taiwan and Russia.