SEOUL: The South Korean won reversed its initial losses to rise on Thursday, supported by regional currencies' strength against the dollar amid diplomatic efforts to resolve the Ukraine crisis.
The local currency was quoted at 1,066.4 as of 0241 against the dollar, up 0.4 percent compared with Wednesday's closing level of 1,070.9.
The won opened domestic trade at 1,071.5 and fell as low as 1,073.0 in the morning.
Regional currencies including the yuan and the Australian dollar strengthened against the greenback, prompting offshore investors to exit dollar-long positions.
"Robust offshore dollar selling was detected following upbeat Australian data and broad weakness of the dollar against the regional currencies," one dealer said.
Australian retail sales surged by the most in almost a year in January, while its A$1.4 billion trade surplus was the largest in almost three years.
Diplomatic efforts by the US and Russia over Ukraine mollified investor worries. Although little progress has been made, US Secretary of State John Kerry said discussions would continue in coming days.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index was flat at 1,971.21 points.
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