(Jan 13): The South Korean won weakened for a ninth straight day against the dollar, heading for its longest losing streak since 2008 as local investors continue to channel funds abroad.
The currency slipped as much as 0.5% to 1,475.00 per dollar, extending its decline to more than 2% from around 1,440 at the end of last year.
Authorities’ efforts to stabilise the won have so far failed to shift sentiment, with unfavourable external conditions and persistent supply-demand imbalances weighing on the currency.
Dollar strength — underpinned by geopolitical tensions in Latin America and the Middle East, alongside resilient US economic data — has erased much of the won’s late-2025 gains. Meanwhile, domestic appetite for overseas assets remains firm while foreign investors have accelerated their pace of selling Korean stocks.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index has risen about 0.6% so far this year, while the won has fallen roughly 2.3% against the dollar.
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South Korean retail investors have bought about US$2.4 billion of US equities on a net basis so far this year through Monday (Jan 12), up roughly 60% from the same period last year, according to Korea Securities Depository data. In contrast, foreign investors have become more aggressive sellers of local stocks, with net purchases slowing to US$728 million over the same period after exceeding US$2 billion earlier in the year.
“Recent dollar demand from importers and resident overseas equity investment has been dominating market flows,” Gyeong-Won Min, an economist at Woori Bank, wrote in a note. Authorities’ vigilance and exporter dollar sales at elevated levels should help cap further weakness in the won, he added.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Korea is scheduled to hold a monetary policy meeting on Thursday. The central bank is expected to keep the policy rate unchanged at 2.50%, according to a survey of economists by Bloomberg.
Uploaded by Arion Yeow
