SEOUL: The South Korean won was down in early trade on Thursday, reflecting the dollar's broad advance after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen suggested the US central bank could start raising interest rates earlier than expected.
The local currency was quoted at 1,074.1 against the dollar as of 0232 GMT, compared with Wednesday's domestic closing level of 1,070.5, on track for its third consecutive session of declines.
Yellen said the Fed would probably end its bond-buying programme in the autumn and could start raising rates around six months later, indicating a more aggressive path towards higher rates than anticipated.
Investors reacted by pushing the dollar higher, and foreign outflows from South Korean stocks were also supporting the US currency against the won.
But dealers said the won was trading within a narrow band as investors lacked additional cues to take aggressive bets.
"The prevailing view in the market is that the dollar-won rate is locked within a range," a foreign-bank dealer said. "I don't think we have seen big dollar supplies from exporters so far, so we'll have to see what type of demand-related trades emerge in the afternoon."
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index was down 0.8 percent at 1,922.12.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.