S. Korea's daily FX turnover falls 4.3 pct in Q3

SEOUL, Dec. 4 (Yonhap) -- The daily trading volume on the South Korean foreign
exchange market declined 4.3 percent in the third quarter from three months
earlier mainly on decreased trading of foreign exchange derivatives, the central
bank said Thursday.
According to the Bank of Korea, an average of US$56.96 billion was traded daily
on the country's foreign exchange market in the July-September period, compared
with $59.50 billion the previous quarter.
The daily turnover in the traditional foreign exchange market, comprising spot
and forward trading and foreign exchange swaps, edged down 1.4 percent on-quarter
to $48.30 billion, while that of derivative trading dropped 17.6 percent to $8.66
billion, the bank said.
Daily spot trading fell 1.7 percent on-quarter to $20.80 billion mainly because
increased market volatility led exporters to remain cautious in trading, while
daily forward trading declined 4 percent to $9.88 billion, it added.
The South Korean currency has fallen more than 35 percent against the U.S. dollar
so far this year.
The local currency underwent particularly high volatility in September as fears
about foreign capital flight from the local bond markets increased and a credit
crunch began to worsen in the wake of the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman
Brothers Holdings Inc.
The local currency fell 13.3 percent against the greenback in the third quarter.
sam@yna.co.kr
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