SEOUL, April 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign exchange (FX) trading grew in the first quarter due to higher demand for U.S. currency and derivatives, central bank data showed Thursday.
The daily average transaction of foreign currencies and foreign currency derivatives in the local interbank market stood at 35.08 billion U.S. dollars in the January-March quarter, up 3.23 billion dollars compared to the prior quarter, according to the Bank of Korea.
It was caused by strong demand for the U.S. currency, of which the daily average trading climbed by 1.16 billion dollars in the first quarter.
Demand for FX swaps jumped 2.19 billion dollars to 17.29 billion dollars in the cited quarter, but the transaction of other derivatives, including currency swaps and options, shrank 0.16 billion dollars to 2.37 billion dollars.
Foreign capital worth 3.84 billion dollars flowed into the South Korean stock market in March, while the domestic bond market posted a net foreign fund outflow of 3.39 billion dollars.
The daily average volatility in the won/dollar exchange rate gained to 0.41 percent in March from 0.21 percent in the previous month.
Premium on credit default swap, which measures credit risk for five-year government bonds, averaged 34 basis points in March, up from 32 basis points in the prior month. ■
