south korean economy down
SEOUL, March 3 (Reuters) - The South Korean won fell over 1
percent to drift around an 11-year low against the dollar early
on Tuesday as deepening worries about the global financial sector
hit riskier assets including Seoul stocks. The won found some relief however from caution over
possible dollar-selling by foreign exchange authorities as they
were reported carrying out intervention on Monday to help the
currency cut losses. The local unit was quoted at 1,586.1/7.7 per dollar as of
0020 GMT, compared with Monday's domestic close of
1,570.3. It weakened to as soft as 1,593.9, a notch above's Monday's
intraday low of 1,594.9, the weakest since March 10, 1998. "The won is expected to weaken past the 1,600 (per dollar)
line as it's surrounded by bearish factors, especially worries
about the global financial sector, which have pushed local shares
below 1,000 points," said an analyst at a local futures firm. Seoul stocks fell 1.44 percent as foreign investors
sold a net 11.6 billion won worth of shares in the country's main
exchange. Foreigners unloaded a combined net 2.38 trillion won over the
previous 15 consecutive sessions, hurting South Korea's balance
of payments. Central bank data released earlier showed the country's
foreign exchange reserves slid by $200 million in February, the
first fall in three months. [ID:nSEO260417] 0020 GMT prev close
Won 1,586.1/7.7 1,570.3
Yen/won 16.3200/84 16.1030/82
KOSPI 1,004.19 1,018.81
(Reporting by Cheon Jong-woo; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)
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