South Korea won climbs against dollar

SEOUL: The won opened higher against the dollar on Tuesday following data showing a sustained current account surplus, although it shrank to the smallest in 15 months after seasonal adjustments.

The South Korean currency was quoted at 1,081.00/40 per dollar, compared with Monday's domestic close of 1,085.6.

Expectations for the Greece parliament's approval of a fiscal austerity package eased global risk aversion, boosting non-dollar asset prices.

South Korea's current account surplus dropped to a seasonally adjusted $0.71 billion in May as imports grew faster than exports, data from the Bank of Korea showed.

The country posted a net capital and financial account outflow of $4.03 billion last month without seasonal adjustments, the largest in seven months, hit by foreign investors' withdrawal from local stock markets.

The central bank expects the world's No.7 exporter to maintain a current account surplus in June similar to May's and the central bank will stick to its earlier forecast of a $6 billion surplus for the second half of this year, a central bank official said.

Treasury bond futures shed 0.05 points as hopes of Greece avoiding a debt default revived interest in riskier assets.

Copyright Reuters, 2011