SEOUL, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's foreign exchange trading slightly fell in July due to weak demand for forward contracts, central bank data showed Thursday.
The daily average transaction of foreign currencies and derivatives in the domestic inter-bank market retreated 0.78 billion U.S. dollars from a month earlier to 54.55 billion dollars in July, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It was driven by a sharp drop in forward trading, which tumbled 1.26 billion dollars to 2.13 billion dollars.
The daily average trading of the U.S. currency gained 1.56 billion dollars to 18.38 billion dollars.
Demand for FX swaps edged down 0.01 billion dollars to 26.83 billion dollars, and the transaction of other derivatives, including currency swaps and options, was down 0.28 billion dollars to 3.69 billion dollars.
The daily average volatility in the South Korean won versus U.S. dollar exchange rate rose to 0.53 percent in July from 0.50 percent in June.
The won versus dollar exchange rate declined to 1,424.0 won per dollar at the end of July from 1,549.4 won tallied a month earlier.
Premium on credit default swap, which gauges credit risk for five-year government bonds, averaged 23 basis points in July, unchanged compared to the previous month. ■
