SEOUL, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's finance ministry and the central bank said Wednesday that they will buy back government bonds later this week to tackle soaring bond yields.
Senior officials from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Bank of Korea (BOK) and financial regulators had a meeting to deal with the recent volatility surge in the financial market.
The finance ministry decided to buy back 2 trillion won (1.4 billion U.S. dollars) worth of government bonds on Friday, while the BOK will purchase Treasury bonds worth 3 trillion won (2.1 billion dollars) from the market Thursday.
The finance ministry said in a statement that risk-averse sentiment spread in the overall financial market amid worry about the fast tightening of monetary policies globally, with local stocks and currency sliding and bond yields rising.
The yield on three-year Treasury bonds increased 3.4 basis points to 4.338 percent, while the return on 10-year government bonds jumped 12.4 basis points to 4.332 percent.
The benchmark Kopsi tumbled 54.57 points, or 2.45 percent, to finish at 2,169.29, marking the lowest close since July 2020.
The won/dollar exchange rate ended at 1,439.9 won per U.S. dollar, up 18.4 won from the previous close. ■
