S. Korea’s forex trading falls in October

SEOUL, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) — South Korea’s foreign exchange trading fell in October due to lower demand for FX swaps and the U.S. currency, central bank data showed Friday.
The daily average transaction of foreign currencies and derivatives in the domestic inter-bank market stood at 34.3 billion U.S. dollars in October, down 2.25 billion dollars from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It turned downward after growing 3.75 billion dollars in September, affected by weaker demand for the U.S. currency of which the daily average trading reduced 90 million dollars.
Demand for FX swaps tumbled 2.91 billion dollars to 16.68 billion dollars last month, while the transaction of other derivatives, including currency swaps and options, declined 0.67 billion dollars to 2.37 billion dollars.
Foreign capital worth 4.17 billion dollars flowed out of the local stock market in October, while the domestic bond market posted a net foreign fund inflow of 4.05 billion dollars.
The daily average volatility in the won/dollar exchange rate stood unchanged at 0.36 percent in October compared to the previous month.
Premium on credit default swap, which gauges credit risk for five-year government bonds, averaged 32 basis points in October, unchanged from a month earlier. ■