South Korean Won: Equity strength fails to lift KRW against US Dollar – OCBC
OCBC’s Sim Moh Siong and Christopher Wong note a sharp divergence between Korean equities and the Korean Won (KRW), with KOSPI’s strong semiconductor-led rally not translating into KRW gains. Heavy foreign USD futures buying and prior overseas equity flows have supported USD/KRW.
The South Korean Won (KRW) weakened against the US Dollar (USD) despite a bullish surge in Korean equities. OCBC analysts Sim Moh Siong and Christopher Wong highlighted a disconnection between Korean stock performance and currency movements. While the KOSPI index jumped 6.6% as semiconductor stocks gained, the KRW depreciated sharply, falling 14 won to 1337.7 per USD.
This disparity was attributed to heavy foreign USD futures buying and previous overseas equity flows supporting the USD/KRW rate. The strong foreign investment, including a record 144,300 USD futures contracts, may have outweighed gains from Korean equity inflows. Concerns over potential dividend repatriation and foreign investor hedging demand further contributed to the USD/KRW surge.
Market analysts remain cautious, watching broader USD trends and the persistence of foreign futures demand before the KRW can stabilize.
Written by urgent.news from FXStreet's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
