SEOUL: The South Korean won fell to its lowest level in more than two weeks in domestic trade on Monday as the local stock market declined, though prospects of end-month dollar supply from exporters capped the currency's drop.
The won was quoted at 1,076.7 to the dollar as of 0237 GMT, down 0.4 percent from Friday's close of 1072.1.
It touched an intraday low of 1,078.0, marking the weakest level since Feb. 6.
"There is some talk of dollar selling by exporters, but the amount appeared to be light in the morning," said one foreign bank dealer. "With the stock market declining, dollar-short positioning is quite unlikely."
But investors appeared wary of a potential spike in dollar selling from exporters, who often play a significant role in the currency market around the month-end as they seek to convert contract payments from overseas buyers.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index slid 0.4 percent at 1,950.22 as offshore investors offloaded a net 57 billion won ($53.2 million) by mid-day.
Adding to cautious sentiment were slew of US economic indicators due this week including consumer confidence and fourth-quarter gross domestic product.
Market participant expect another round of soft figures after weak US home resales data released on Friday, which could give the US Federal Reserve reasons to slow the pace of the reduction in monthly asset purchases.
Janet Yellen, the chair of US Federal Reserve, is scheduled to speak before the Senate on Thursday.
March futures on three-year treasury bonds ticked up 0.04 points at 105.89 on short covering after a sell-off on Friday.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.