The volume of transactions in the foreign exchange market in South Korea fell by more than 5% last year as demand for foreign exchange derivatives weakened amid relative stability of the won/dollar parity, the South Korean central bank said on Thursday.
The average daily volume of these transactions on the interbank market thus stood at $ 52.84 billion in 2020, down 5.3% from the previous year, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
This is due to a drop in demand for currency risk hedging. While the won / dollar parity rose sharply in the first quarter against the backdrop of the novel coronavirus pandemic, it stabilized relatively in the following quarters.
The BOK added that the average daily spot trading volume rose 2.5% to $ 20.32 billion, but currency derivatives transactions contracted 9.5% to $ 32.52 billion. of dollars.
Finally, foreign exchange transactions of local banks fell 5% to $ 24.77 billion, while those of branches of foreign banks fell 5.5% to $ 28.07 billion.
