Seoul: Won, stocks fall on hawkish comments from Fed officials

[SEOUL] The South Korean won sharply fell on Wednesday, while shares edged down as markets became jittery after comments from Federal Reserve officials raised the prospects of a rate hike in the United States in September.

The won was quoted at 1,108.3 to the dollar at the conclusion of onshore trade, down 1.5 per cent from Tuesday's close at 1,092.2.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) closed down 0.2 per cent at 2,043.75 points.

Offshore investors bought a net 13.8 billion won (S$16.8 million) worth of Kospi shares for the day.

REUTERS