(New York=Yonhap Infomax) Jin Woo Choi—The dollar-won exchange rate extended gains in overnight trading, breaking above the 1,470-won mark.


Risk-off sentiment intensified as the New York stock market, which had been trending higher, reversed course and fell sharply amid a selloff in US technology stocks, putting downward pressure on the Korean won.


At 02:00 KST on the 21st, the dollar-won rate closed at 1,472.20, up 6.60 won from the previous Seoul closing price.


This marks the highest overnight close since April 8 (1,479.00 won), a span of over seven months.


Compared to the regular session closing price of 1,467.90 won, the rate was 4.30 won higher.


Entering the New York session at around 1,469 won amid yen weakness, the dollar-won rate initially faced downward pressure following the release of US employment data.


According to the US Department of Labor, the unemployment rate in September rose by 0.1 percentage point to 4.4% from the previous month.


Nonfarm payrolls increased by 119,000, surpassing market expectations of 50,000, but markets focused more on the uptick in unemployment.


George Catrambone, Head of Fixed Income at DWS Americas, said, "The unemployment rate is more important, and this raises questions about the labor balance debate," explaining that this was also behind the rise in bond prices.


The dollar-won rate briefly fell as low as 1,466.30 during the session, tracking dollar weakness.


However, as the New York stock market quickly reversed and declined, the dollar-won rate turned higher.


After 01:00, US equities, especially tech stocks, came under heavy selling pressure, with all three major indices turning negative.


Nvidia Corp., the leading AI stock, surged more than 5% early in the session on strong earnings but reversed to a decline of over 1%.


As a result, the dollar-won rate climbed to an intraday high of 1,472.20.


At 02:21, the dollar-yen rate stood at 157.320 yen, while the euro-dollar rate was at 1.15358. The offshore dollar-yuan rate was at 7.1191 yuan.


The yen-won cross rate was 934.12 won per 100 yen, and the yuan-won rate was 206.57 won.


For the session, the dollar-won traded between a high of 1,472.20 and a low of 1,465.70, a range of 6.50 won.


Total spot FX trading volume, including Seoul Foreign Exchange Brokerage and Korea Money Brokerage, reached $13.713 billion in overnight trading.


jwchoi@yna.co.kr


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