Finance ministry’s announcement comes after martial law declaration pushed won to multi-year lows overnight
SOUTH Korean shares declined sharply at the open on Wednesday (Dec 4), tumbling nearly 2 per cent after the country’s President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law overnight.
Yoon then lifted the decree within hours, but calls were growing for his impeachment after his shock decision to impose martial law.
The benchmark Kospi opened sharply lower, down 1.9 per cent at 2,452.09 as at 9.06 am (8.06 am Singapore time), before paring losses to slide 1.1 per cent by 9.24 am.
The won, which weakened against the US dollar overnight by as much as 2.9 per cent, pared those losses. Swinging between losses and gains in early Korean trade, it last gained as much as 1.6% to 1,406.35 per dollar.
South Korea’s finance ministry said it is ready to deploy “unlimited” liquidity into financial markets if needed after the martial law declaration pushed the won to multi-year lows.
The announcement came after Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok and Bank of Korea (BOK) governor Rhee Chang-yong held emergency meetings overnight, and ahead of the BOK’s extraordinary meeting session abruptly scheduled for 9 am local time on Wednesday.
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