South Korea Exchange to Allow Broader Range of Currency Futures

By Sangim Han and Saeromi Shin

Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Korea Exchange plans to allow trading in a broader range of maturities for currency futures and will reduce the minimum value of the contracts to encourage their use, South Korea’s financial regulator said.

The Financial Services Commission will gradually implement the changes from the end of April, it said in an e-mailed statement today in Seoul. The adjustments will enable more exporters and importers to use currency futures to hedge against won fluctuations, the regulator said.

The won has dropped 17 percent versus the dollar this year, the biggest loss among Asian currencies. It plunged 26 percent in 2008, the most in 11 years.

To contact the reporter on this story: Saeromi Shin in Seoul at sshin15@bloomberg.net