South Korea's foreign exchange authorities conducted a rare dollar-selling intervention on Thursday, sending the won to a nine-month high, a market source said on Friday.
Seoul's move came alongside Japan's yen-buying, dollar-selling market intervention in New York markets on Thursday, pulling the yen from four-decade lows.
"Foreign exchange officials conducted rare dollar-selling intervention overnight," the source said, declining to be identified.
The won on Thursday strengthened 2 percent to its strongest since October 20 at 1,418.0 per dollar. The currency, which hit a 17-year low of 1,561.50 last month, has gained more than 8 percent this month and is set for its biggest monthly jump since March 2009.
A foreign exchange official at the finance ministry declined to confirm the intervention.
It is suspected that South Korea and Japan intervened together, since the countries said they would coordinate closely, a South Korean currency trader said.
"We are maintaining close coordination with the U.S. and Japan. We will continue to cooperate," Moon Ji-sung, deputy finance minister for international affairs, said in a phone call with Reuters.
On July 2, South Korea's vice finance chief said in a press conference that Seoul was closely communicating with Japan and other key allies on foreign exchange issues.
Japan's top currency diplomat followed those comments on July 7, saying Tokyo was closely communicating with Seoul's foreign exchange officials as the financial markets of Japan and South Korea sometimes exhibit similar movements.
Reuters
