Daily FX turnover hits all-time quarterly high in Q1

FX turnover-Q1 tally

Daily FX turnover hits all-time quarterly high in Q1

SEOUL, May 2 (Yonhap) -- Daily foreign exchange (FX) trading by banks in South Korea hit an all-time quarterly high in the first quarter of the year on increased demand from cross-border transactions of securities, central bank data showed Tuesday.

The daily FX turnover, including trading of derivatives, came to an average of US$66.83 billion in the January-March period, compared with $57.44 billion the previous year, according to the data from the Bank of Korea (BOK).

It marked the largest quarterly turnover since relevant data started to be compiled under the current revised statistic standards in 2008.

The growth stemmed from increased trading of securities by local and foreign investors.

The daily average turnover on the spot FX market reached $26.45 billion in the first quarter, up 26.8 percent from a quarter earlier. The figure for FX derivatives also expanded 10.4 percent to $40.39 billion, the data showed.

(END)

(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved