Korea’s won, bonds gain as exporters sell dollars, risk improves
By Bloomberg
South Korea’s won rose the most in more than two weeks as exporters sold dollars and global investors turned to local debt on increased appetite for emerging-market assets.
U.S. bond and stock markets advanced Tuesday, prompting buying of South Korean notes and pushing the 10-year yield down from a four-month high. The Asian nation’s seasonally-adjusted jobless rate was 3.7 percent in April, Statistics Korea reported Wednesday. That’s unchanged from a month earlier, when it fell from a 12-month high, and matched the median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
The won rose 0.3 percent to 1,092.40 a dollar as of 11:12 a.m. in Seoul, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The currency fell to a one-month low Tuesday amid a global bond selloff.
“Dollar-selling by local exporters continues as the won weakened in the last two days,” said Kim Dae Hun, a currency dealer at Busan Bank in Seoul. “Offshore investors bought the won after global markets seemed to stabilize, even if temporarily.”
Korea will refrain from following China, Australia and Thailand in lowering borrowing costs at the next central bank meeting on May 15, according to 16 of 18 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Two forecast a cut of 25 basis points, or 0.25 percentage point, to 1.50 percent. Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju Yeol said in April that he expects a modest economic recovery from the second quarter and that the authority will monitor the impact of three rate cuts since August.
The yield on the sovereign notes due September 2024 fell four basis points, or 0.04 percentage point, to 2.56 percent, Korea Exchange prices show. The yield jumped the most since June 2013 Tuesday. The three-year yield declined five basis points to 1.89 percent.
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