SEOUL, May 16 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign exchange trading grew last month due to strong demand for the U.S. currency, central bank data showed Friday.
The daily average transaction of foreign currencies and derivatives in the domestic inter-bank market stood at 38.02 billion U.S. dollars in April, up 1.68 billion dollars from a month earlier, according to the Bank of Korea.
The growth was affected by higher demand for the U.S. currency, of which the daily average trading expanded 2.65 billion dollars last month.
Demand for FX swaps rose 0.53 billion dollars to 18.33 billion dollars in the cited month, while the transaction of other derivatives, including currency swaps and options, added 0.22 billion dollars to 2.56 billion dollars.
Foreign capital worth 9.33 billion dollars flowed out of the local stock market in April, while the domestic bond market posted a net foreign fund inflow of 7.63 billion dollars.
The daily average volatility in the won/dollar exchange rate advanced to 0.67 percent in April from 0.29 percent in the previous month.
Premium on credit default swap, which gauges credit risk for five-year government bonds, averaged 37 basis points in April, up from 33 basis points a month earlier. ■
