S. Korea’s forex trading rebounds in July

SEOUL, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) — South Korea’s foreign exchange trading rebounded last month due to solid demand for both the U.S. and the Chinese currencies, central bank data showed Friday.
The daily average transaction of foreign currencies and relevant derivatives in the domestic inter-bank market stood at 33.81 billion U.S. dollars in July, up 1.15 billion dollars compared with the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The rebound came after falling 2.04 billion dollars in June, affected by higher demand for the U.S. and the Chinese currencies, of which the daily average trading grew 2.14 billion dollars and 0.06 billion dollars each last month.
Demand for foreign exchange swaps shrank 0.67 billion dollars over the month to 16.54 billion dollars in July, while the transaction of other derivatives, including currency swaps and options, reduced 0.15 billion dollars to 2.48 billion dollars.
Foreign capital worth 1.86 billion dollars flowed into the local stock market in July, while the domestic bond market posted a net foreign fund inflow of 0.38 billion dollars.
The daily average volatility in the won/dollar exchange rate slipped to 0.24 percent in July from 0.26 percent in the previous month.
Premium on credit default swap, which measures credit risk for five-year government bonds, averaged 36 basis points in July, unchanged compared to the prior month. ■