SEOUL: The South Korean won rebounded from a 15-month trough on Friday, as the dollar took a breather, especially against the yen which jumped on a warning by the Japanese finance minister against rapid currency moves.
The won was quoted at 1,110.1 to the dollar as of 0245 GMT, compared to Thursday's close of 1,115.1.
The won's uptick was driven by the yen's rebound earlier on Friday, after Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso expressed concerns about the yen's rapid fall - a side effect of the massive monetary easing campaign undertaken by the Bank of Japan.
"Profit-taking and exporter demand for settlements are limiting the won's fall for now, but it will face more downward pressure with the yen/dollar rate expected to test the 120 level soon," said Ma Ju-ok, an economist at Kiwoom Securities.
"If the weak yen trend persists, the financial authorities could scale up their intervention in the market," especially if it pushes the won much higher versus the Japanese currency, Ma added.
Authorities are concerned a weak yen could erode South Korean exporters' competitive edge versus their Japanese rivals.
The yen has hit a string of fresh 6-year lows against the won in November, with the yen/won cross-rate dipping below 9.5
South Korean shares edged higher on the day as risk appetite were underpinned by upbeat US economic data, while exporters also gained some reprieve on the yen's bounce.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was up 0.25 percent at 1,963.01 points as of 0245 GMT.
Hyundai Heavy Industries rallied 6 percent after KCC Corp said it would buy a 300 billion won ($270.32 million US dollar) stake in the shipbuilder.
December futures on three-year treasury bonds ticked 1 basis point higher to trade at 108.08.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.