Won Interbank Volumes Drop in Q3

The South Korean Won's interbank trade volumes suffered declines as traders continue to play the safety game amid uncertainty with the Eurozone. Trade volumes weakened by 4.6% in the third quarter, the global trend highlights difficulty for the FX markets.

The daily average FX turnover in the inter-bank market amounted to $21.67 billion (US dollars) during the July-September period, down 4.6 percent from three months earlier, according to the countries central bank.

The Korean Won is trading at 1,110.50 against the greenback.

The fall in volumes comes on the back of declining external trade. Both exports and imports contracted during the quarter due to the prolonged European fiscal crisis and the consequent global economic slowdown.

The daily turnover of FX spots contracted 7.7 percent on- quarter to $9.23 billion (US dollars) in the third quarter, and the trading volume of FX Swaps reduced 2.8 percent to $10.95 billion dollars. The volume of other derivative products such as cross currency swaps and Forex options retreated 2 percent to $1.32 billion (USD) over the cited period, but the foreign exchange forwards trading increased 62.2 percent to $170 million (US dollars).