Won leaps on record April exports

The South Korean won spiked against the dollar on Monday, with record exports in April and persistently high inflation cementing expectations for the local currency's advance, despite smoothing operations by the authorities to curb its rapid gains. News of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's death sparked short covering on the dollar. But exporters' dollar offers picked up around 1,067, after top South Korean carmakers Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors reported double-digit sales growth.
The won came just off a session high to close local trade at 1,065.0 against the dollar. It climbed to as much as 1,064.9, its strongest standing since late August 2008, with the Seoul stock market hovering near lifetime highs. The trade surplus in Asia's fourth largest economy more than doubled to $5.82 billion in April from March, with exports climbing a faster-than-expected 26.6 percent to a record $49.77 billion from a year earlier.