Photo : KBS
The exchange rate has broken one-thousand-560 won against the greenback during trading for the first time in 17 years.
Nighttime trading ended at 2 a.m. Saturday at one-thousand-559 South Korean won against the U.S. dollar, with the local currency weakening by 19-point-nine won from Friday’s daytime closing as foreign investors sold off South Korean shares and amid the protracted Iran war.
The rate had risen as high as one-thousand-561-point-five won against the greenback before nighttime trading ended.
The closing rate is the highest since March 6, 2009, when the exchange rate recorded one-thousand-597 won against the dollar in intraday trading during the global financial crisis.
The dollar’s rally also drove other major currencies to decline, with the Dollar Index against six major currencies breaching 100 for the first time in two months.