SEOUL - South Korea's central bank said on Wednesday it purchased net $11.543 billion during the final quarter of 2020 for the purpose of smoothing foreign exchange market volatility.
The won gained 7.1% against the dollar in the fourth quarter as economic recovery hopes boosted appetite for riskier assets, while it traded in a range from 1,080.9 to 1,166.5 per dollar, Refinitiv data showed.
The daily average volume of dollar/won transactions in the domestic interbank market amounted to $7.08 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $7.38 billion in the preceding three-month period, according to data from the central bank.
In the third quarter, net purchases and sales of the dollar were on par.
(Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Andrew Heavens) ((joori.roh@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 6936 1493))
