SEOUL, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's interbank foreign exchange trading grew in August due to an expansion in spot and forward trading, central bank data showed Thursday.
The daily average transactions of foreign currencies and derivatives in the domestic interbank market increased 2.68 billion U.S. dollars from a month earlier to 57.23 billion dollars in August, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The growth was driven by robust activity in the spot exchange market, which rose 3.43 billion dollars to reach a daily average of 25.31 billion dollars.
The daily average trading of the U.S. currency gained 2.04 billion dollars to 20.42 billion dollars, and the transaction of the Chinese currency surged 1.38 billion dollars to 4.90 billion dollars.
The forward contracts also showed a notable uptick, with the daily average trading volume rising 1.04 billion dollars to 3.18 billion dollars in August compared to the previous month.
Trading in the FX swap market fell 1.48 billion dollars to 25.36 billion dollars, and the transaction of other derivatives, including currency swaps and options, was down 310 million dollars to 3.39 billion dollars.
The daily average volatility in the South Korean won versus U.S. dollar exchange rate sank to 0.31 percent in August from 0.53 percent in July.
The won versus dollar exchange rate dipped to 1,368.6 won per dollar at the end of August from 1,424.0 won tallied a month earlier.
Premium on credit default swap, which gauges credit risk for five-year government bonds, averaged 22 basis points in August, down from 23 basis points in the previous month. ■