Won hits five-month high as Kospi remains volatile

The South Korean won strengthened to its strongest intraday level in about five months Thursday, reaching the 1,430 range even as the Kospi remained volatile following two days of steep losses.

As of 2:30 p.m., the won was trading at around 1,438.8 per dollar. The exchange rate stood at 1,442.5 at 9 a.m., the start of Seoul’s daytime trading, and fell as low as 1,435.9 at around 9:16 a.m. That marked the won’s strongest intraday level since Feb. 27, when the rate touched 1,430.5.

The move extended the won’s recent strengthening trend. The exchange rate entered the 1,440 range Wednesday for the first time in about three months, closing the daytime session at 1,446.7.

Kiwoom Securities economist Kim Yu-mi said improving domestic conditions helped drive the recent decline in the dollar-won rate, citing stronger-than-expected second-quarter growth, expectations of a narrower Korea-US rate gap and increased corporate conversion of dollar holdings into won.

“The won’s direction will, for the time being, depend on domestic growth momentum and supply-demand conditions,” Kim said.

On the global side, the US Federal Reserve held its benchmark rates steady Wednesday, briefly weakening the dollar before it steadied in Asian trading. Wall Street also fell sharply overnight, led by chip stocks.

Against that backdrop, the Kospi remained volatile Thursday, opening 0.33 percent higher at 5,681.77 before falling as much as 2.05 percent and then surging to an intraday high of 5,976.82. By around 2:30 p.m., however, the index had retreated to around 5,610.

The wide swings followed a combined 16.2 percent plunge over the previous two sessions, as sharp losses in chip heavyweights were amplified by the unwinding of leveraged positions.

Foreign and institutional investors were net buyers, each purchasing about 750 billion won ($521.5 million) in shares as of 2:30 p.m. Retail investors sold amid a tug-of-war between bargain hunting and lingering pressure to unwind leveraged positions.

Samsung Electronics helped drive the morning rebound after reporting record second-quarter revenue of 171.5 trillion won and operating profit of 89.5 trillion won. Its shares jumped as much as 8 percent before surrendering the gains, underscoring continued fragility following the market’s recent selloff.