Won nears 2-week low on foreign stock selling

Singapore

SOUTH Korea's won skidded to a near two-week low on Wednesday as foreign investors dumped stocks, leading losses among emerging Asian currencies as the US dollar edged back towards 8-1/2-month highs.

The won lost as much as 0.6 per cent to 1,164.9 per US dollar, its weakest since Nov 19, on US dollar demand linked to foreign stock selling. Local importers also bought the greenback for month-end payments. Seoul shares ended down 0.7 per cent, underperforming a broader index on Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan as foreign investors unloaded a net 317.8 billion won (S$385 million) in equities. In November, they dumped 1.9 trillion won in total, according to the Korea Exchange data.