The suitable facet of an digital buying and selling board at Hana Financial institution headquarters in central Seoul exhibits the received on the 1,470-level per greenback throughout intraday buying and selling, Tuesday. The Korean forex closed at 1,473.7 received per greenback. Yonhap
The Korean received is as soon as once more weakening in opposition to the U.S. greenback after a brief rebound sparked by aggressive verbal intervention from financial authorities in late December, in keeping with market analysts, Tuesday.
The received closed at 1,473.7 per greenback, Tuesday, down 5.3 % from the day before today and transferring again towards the 1,480-level it had hovered round earlier than the Dec. 24, 2025, intervention — a degree that mirrored volatility just like previous monetary crises.
The intervention measure led to a pointy rebound, with the received gaining 33.8 received, strengthening from 1,483.6 to 1,449.8 per greenback — its largest one-day achieve in additional than three years.
The won-dollar alternate price stabilized over the subsequent two periods — Dec. 26 and Dec. 29 — reaching 1,429.8 received per greenback.
Starting on Dec. 30, nonetheless, it resumed an upward trajectory, breaching the 1,430, 1,440, 1,450, and 1,460 ranges earlier than returning to 1,470 per greenback, Tuesday.
Economists and analysts mentioned the federal government’s overseas alternate measures have but to point out a transparent impact and that authorities must be cautious with additional verbal interventions.
They famous that the received’s renewed depreciation displays not solely short-term supply-demand imbalances but additionally structural components in each the Korean and international economies, limiting the influence of the authorities’ messaging in the marketplace.
“It seems that delicate geopolitical occasions overseas are growing demand for safe-haven property, such because the greenback and gold, along with home buyers’ demand for {dollars},” mentioned Shin Se-don, professor emeritus of economics at Sookmyung Girls’s College.
The professor pointed to final 12 months’s huge greenback outflows and the received’s sharp decline, pushed by a mixture of things.
These included the state-run Nationwide Pension Service’s expanded abroad investments, retail buyers’ U.S. stock-buying spree, and export-oriented corporations holding {dollars} relatively than changing them into received.
Shin additionally cited U.S. President Donald Trump’s more and more unconventional actions for the reason that begin of 2026, together with the U.S. seize of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Washington’s aggressive push to accumulate Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
The Japanese yen’s weak spot has additionally been cited as an element behind the received’s latest decline, amid shut coupling between the 2 currencies.
The yen fell on hypothesis of a snap common election in February, with market observers anticipating Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to win a decrease home majority and pursue aggressive fiscal insurance policies, elevating considerations over Japan’s financial system.
Woori Financial institution analyst Park Hyun-joong predicted that the received may weaken to the 1,480-level per greenback if authorities don’t implement corresponding measures to handle geopolitical dangers.
“The 1,480-level was recognized as the primary resistance level final 12 months, and we may attain it as early as the primary quarter,” he mentioned.
In the meantime, Minister of Financial system and Finance Koo Yun-cheol is accompanying working-level officers on overseas alternate coverage in his go to to the U.S. this week to attend a gathering of G20 finance ministers.
The transfer is elevating hypothesis that the federal government is contacting the U.S. facet to stabilize the received’s volatility.
