SEOUL, Aug 24 (NNN-XINHUA) – South Korea’s currency hit the lowest in over 13 years yesterday, on the strong U.S. dollar, leading the foreign exchange authorities to issue a verbal warning.
The won/dollar exchange rate finished at 1,345.5 won per dollar, up 5.7 won from the previous close. It marked the highest in more than 13 years since the exchange rate reached 1,356.8 won on Apr 28, 2009.
To slow the local currency’s rapid slide to the greenback, the country’s foreign exchange authorities formally issued a verbal warning, saying, it will closely monitor whether there were speculative bets from the offshore market, to boost the won/dollar exchange rate.
Despite the verbal warning yesterday morning, the exchange rate continued to rise amid the global strong dollar trend.
Expectations ran high for the U.S. Federal Reserve to continue the aggressive tightening of its monetary policy, in a bid to counter surging inflation.
Local stocks ended lower amid the domestic currency’s weakness. The benchmark Kospi retreated 27.16 points, or 1.10 percent, to finish at 2,435.34, posting the lowest close in almost a month.– NNN-XINHUA
