S. Korean won sharply weakens against U.S. dollar

The Korean won experienced a significant depreciation against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, falling to 1,337.7 won per dollar at 3:30 p.m., a decline of 14 won from the previous trading session's close. This sharp weakening was attributed to foreign investors purchasing dollar futures and covering dollar-short positions. At one point during afternoon trading, the won dropped to a low of 1,342.3 won per dollar.

Despite the Federal Reserve's expectation to keep its key interest rate unchanged this week, traders were closely monitoring whether the central bank might hint at a rate hike later in the year. Meanwhile, foreign investors netted a purchase of 815.8 billion won ($609 million) worth of local shares in the latest regular stock trading session, driving the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index up 6.63 percent to close at 6,012.44.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.