SEOUL: The South Korean won firmed for a fourth straight session early on Monday to its strongest against the dollar since August 2011 as data from the United States and China lifted confidence in the currency.
The won stood at 1,052.8 against the greenback as of 0235 GMT, up half a percent from Friday's domestic close at 1,058.0 and its highest since Aug. 2, 2011.
"The won breached the year-high level fairly easily as markets reacted differently than expected towards the US jobs data out over the weekend," said a local bank dealer in Seoul.
A total of 203,000 jobs were added in November in the United States, while the unemployment rate dropped three-tenths of a percentage point to a five-year low of 7 percent, data showed on Friday.
The data led to a firm finish on Wall Street, lending support to Asian markets on Monday.
Adding to the cheery sentiment was economic data from China that showed exports came in well above forecasts in November, rising 12.7 percent on an annual basis.
Market participants said they were wary of possible dollar-buying government intervention, signs of which had not been spotted in early trade on Monday.
South Korean finance ministry officials said shortly after markets opened that it was misguided to believe that Korean foreign exchange authorities were willing to allow the won to appreciate for the sake of boosting domestic demand.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index was up 1 percent.
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